Suspicion of Stinking Pipe Averts Hotel Fire

[Page 1] US ON A BUS Suspicion Pipe Averts (Charles G. Griffo, news editor of The Star, is on a 6,000-mile trip through the South and Southwest on Greyhound bus. He is being accompanied by four of his children while the other two remain at home with Mrs. G. Here is his seventh story.) By CHARLES G. GRIFFO Phoenix, Ariz.-Gazing into two eggs, sunny-side up, while your ear aches isn't funny to a 4½-y e a r-old boy even in this extraordinary Valley of the Sun. And that's how we started off our first full day here. Gregory suddenly crying "my ear Griffo Griffo aches" and, because of the early hour, not a drugstore open in the town. It was at breakfast and the eggs were on the plate, complete with toast, milk, bacon and potatoes. They don't have grits here. I told Greg to grit his teeth. "My teeth hurt too," says he. IT WAS A case of overexposure to air conditioning in the hotel room. Meanwhile, Chuck, Mary Elizabeth and Martha ate heartily. "Can I have some of your bacon," asked Chuck. We managed to wade through it and the first customer in the Economy Drug Store nearby the hotel seeking ear oil was undoubtedly yours truly. Irrigation of the ear and Of Stinking Hotel Fire the oil transformed the I stormy petrel of the tribe to his usual bouncing self and things were back to normal. THAT IS, if you can call discovering that there was a smoldering fire on your floor in the hotel normal. We were back in our room when Chuck, who has a good sense of smell, said "Daddy, your pipe stinks." He knows that any such reference to my pipe irritates me. "I'm not smoking my pipe, I say, sniffing the air. "I smell smoke," I add, remembering police reporting days of adventure, romance. WE WENT into the hall, the boys and I. Mary and Martha were visiting friends in Phoenix. "Do you smell smoke?"* we asked the middle-aged housekeeper from Texas who was in the linen room. "I smell something," says she, "smells jus lawk smoke." The four of us sniffed up Turn to Page 9, Column 4

[Page 2] - THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR Suspicion Of Stinking Pipe Concluded From Page: P and down the hallways of the seventh floor. Then the housekeeper reported the odor to the management and the management made a room check. You've guessed it, a chair was smouldering from a departed guest's cigarette in the room down the hall and tragedy was averted. CHUCK'S sense of smell had paid off. Sightseeing around the city and visiting friends took up most of the afternoon but that night we really "carried coals to Newcastle." Loan-Booming Concluded From Page 1 better rural electrification and telephone service." The money would be loaned to the Thorntown Telephone Company at 2 per cent interest and the residents of Hazelrigg would be called on, with all other taxpayers, to make up the loss sustained by the government in passing out money at such low interest rates. Diven emphasized the fallacy of believing anyone could get Federal money without cost and without Federal controls. He cited the case of the Odon & Madison Township Telephone Company in Daviess We went to an automobile race. And for an Indianapolis resident who missed the "500" this year, that was an occasion. The races were more thrilling than the Indianapolis classic. And the drivers ranged in age from 5 years old to 14. It was quarter -midget racing put on by the Phoenix Micro-Midget Racing Club Inc. The races, extremely popular on the West Coast, are between midget racers, powered with lawn- mower type engines, and driven by the kids. AS MUCH as $1,000 go into some of the cars which are miniatures of the 500 racers. An 8½-year-girl won one of the main events and is one of the top drivers here. The final race was what was called an Australian pursuit. The 12 cars were lined up, the slowest first and on down the line. After a rather hectic start each car that was passed by another had to drop out. It sort of reminded me of trying to keep tab of four kids at one time. Tomorrow we are going to Scottsdale, "The West's most Western town." a