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The Seaforth News, 1962-10-04, Page 7.eporter Salves Murder Mystery A. Warn 'of tetete l):I1centeU, wearing bite jeans acid sweat. shirts and swinging sledge iteme mere., bashed away at the con- .cnete basement floor of a ruttiest Ban Premise() home one day re- cently. Watching,. a reporter asked lits Dort Seott: "Do you think you'll find the bodies there'!" "Ask Ed Montgomery," poliec- man Scott snapped back. "He knows more about this than any- one," Through diligent legwork, Ed Montgomery, The San Francisco Examiner's Pulitzer Prize-win- ning reporter, had led the police to a solution of a mysterious dis- appearance case, Under the coat of concrete, police did find two bodies—those of 68 -year-old .Tay T. Arneson and his former wife, Mildred Maude Arneson, 58, a registered nurse, who had oper- ated a run -of -the -road motel, 'El Sombrero, on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. San Francisco's Police Department promptly filed murder charges against the own- er of the house, Ralph Kroeger, 61; California police began looking for another missing per- son, Kroeger's wife, Iva, who had disappeared entirely. The Kroegers had met the Arneson last November, become friends, and, before buying their house; moved into El Sombrero temper - Four months ago, the Arnesons dropped out of sight, Routine checks by police turned up no- thing. The couple probably would be missing still if two of Mrs. Arneson's sisters hadn't gone to the Examiner for help, The paper assigned Montgomery to the case. An old hand at solving mys- teries—in 1955, he found the body of a murdered girl in a remote hilly area the FBI had already searched—Montgomery plunged into his investigation of t h e Arnesons' disappearance with the seine sort of energy he used to expose skulduggery in the Internal Revenue Depart- ment in a Pulitzer -winning 1950 story. Combing ground already presumably covered by cops, the tall 51 -year-old ex -Marine, who wears a hearing aid, began un- covering intriguing bits of in- earmation: Although Mrs. Kroeger report- atlly told police that the missing jlrs, Arneson had phoned her from South America, telephone- iiompany records failed to reveal such a call. One neighborhood rumor had vt that the missing Arneson was a patient at Fort Miley Veterans Administration h o s p i t a 1; he wasn't, Montgomery discovered. Further checking revealed that Arneson's veteran's pension checks—sent to El Sombrero - were returned unopened. Although Mrs. Kroeger report- edly had purchased the El Som- brero Motel from Mrs. Arneson. no record of sale showed up in county deed books. "All this didn't sound right," Montgomery said. He began look- ing for what was wrong. "I had to go and dig out every damn thing myself," he said. "I found out that the missing woman had purchased $1,500 in traveler's checks, and I proved that they had been forged when cashed." If this was tantalizing, a clue that Montgomery finally discov- ered was dynamite. A former guest in El Sombrero Motel ad- mitted he had driven to San Francisco with Mrs. Kroeger one day and dug a hole in her base- ment for her. "That lit the fuse," Montgomery says, The remaining spadework was wimple, of course. When police dug up the two bodies, the re- sult was a surprise for soft -talk- ing Kroeger ("I didn't know I had guests in the house") and a sad irony for Montgomery, whose stories had kept the case alive. "'Where I should have had a cold exclusive," he said, "I had only an hour's beat" A coroner had tipped off the rest of the press. — From NEWSWEEK seeteite COMEBACK FOR DOBBIN — Automobiles towing boats on troilers are a common enough sight on the nation's highwoys, but a horse and buggy towing a boot, complete with outboard motor, is a real traffic -stopper. Shortly after this picture was taken, the driver stopped at a service station for gas and oil — for his outboard motor of course. Lion Tamer Uses Kindness Phe idea that anyone could feel the deep affection for lions and tigers that she does for close friends would probably be in- comprehensible to the majority of Evelyn Curry's circus audi- ences, Yet Miss Curry explain- ed, when she was appearing in the Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey Circus, that affection and understanding consideration of her animals' feelings are impor- tant factors in her successful career as wild animal trainer and exhibitor. Believed to be the only wo- man trainer in this country to own and work with a mixed group of lions and tigers, Miss Curry currently has ten African lions, Bengal and Sumatra tigers, " Her pet isAngel, an 11 -month- old "tiglon," the only offspring of a lioness and a tiger surviving now in the United States, Angel weighed one pound at birth, and is the female cub of two of Evelyn's smartest an- imals, Napoleon, a Bengal tiger, and Pasha, a Nubian lioness. Like many babies, Angel has been mostly bottle-fed with a special formula of evaporated milk with yolk of egg and fre- quently cod liver ail. She is vociferous about her feedings which are generally four or five times a day. She grew so rapidly that about five pounds of raw steak were added to her daily diet at nine months. "If I leave a single thing out of her formula, she knows it and just won't finish it," her trainer said. "She's really fussy about her food. I buy better steak for her than I do for myself. I tried bargain cuts a few times but she turned up her nose and left the meat untouched." Feeding Miss Curry's animal family is no ordinary housekeep- ing job. It takes at least 150 pounds of meat each day, seven dozen eggs, and eight enormous cans of evaporated milk. At supermarkets, she buys huge sides of meat, part of which is stored in a large refrigerator in the trailer in which she travels. Dinnertime for the big cats is around 8:30 or 9 o'clock at night, after their last per- formance. Since Evelyn has owned her own animals, four other lion and tiger cubs have been born and survived besides the "tiglon." By now, she has learned exactly what to do for each little new- comer, generally putting the cub to nurse with its mother for a few days, and then transferring h to bottle feedings. "I never go by any set rules," Miss Curry told ore, "only plain common sense." Each of Evelyn's lion and tiger cubs has progressed from sleep- ing in a baby's bassinet with tiny pillosw to a play pen, and then into its own cage. Each cub also has had its own toys: rubber clown dolls, squeaky lions and tigers, Teddy bears, and a rock- ing horse shared among them. Angel, which Miss Curry ex- hibited free of cost to over 20,000 CONFUSING — Twins Teddy, left and Freddy Bridgman, 3, keep all their neighbors confused. AVA ACTS — Actress Ava Gardner wears a plumed hat and gown popular with the ladies at the turn of the cen- tury during filming of a new movie in Madrid, Spain. orphaned and underprivileged children in a section of upper New York State, .still plays with a Teddy bear; and, in a nearby cage, so does Sato, a six-year-old lion. None of Evelyn's lions or tigers is over seven years old. It takes three years of con- tinuous training to teach a big cat to perform a circus trick; and whenever one of Evelyn's an- imals "takes his seat" for the first time (jumps onto a high iron pedestal) she is pleased as if it bad graduated from school, according to Inez Whiteley Fos- ter in the Christian Science Monitor. For safety, Miss Curry depends on her own extreme alertness and understanding of her an- imals. She never does her best when she is toofatigued, she says. As she works with each animal in training, she learns its individual characteristics. She discovers which tricks each an- imal will allow itself to be taught; at which ones another may balk. "Animals are just like people," she commented. "They react very similarly. A 'bad' lion for one trainer often turns out to be a 'good' animal for someone who has the right attitude and who tries to understand its problems," It seems that lions and tigers have problems too! One of the most frequent causes .of argu- ments, Miss Curry says, is jeal- ousy — professional and person- al. When Princess, a beautiful lioness, was added to the group, Napoleon cast welcoming glances in her direction, but Pasha soon made her views clear in angry tones Napoleon evidently under- stood. "Unless you understand wild. animals and thoroughly know what you are doing, you have no business in a circus arena with them," Evelyn continued. "It's also very important that your animals learn to know and to like you; that each one real- izes it can trust yau." As Miss Curry cues her lions and tigers in the cage, she talks to each in turn, affectionately and coaxingly, as to a child. Completely alone, without aid of a whip, chair, or any other trainer's cautionary device, she enters the huge locked steel cage and puts her animals through amazing performances, Q. When one is eating a steak or roast, 'or something similar, isn't it all right and more con- venient to cut the meat up into several mouthfuls at a time be- fore eating it? A, Although it may seem more convenient to do your "cutting up" all at one time, it certainly is not considered good form, One should cut off a single bite at a time. ISSUE 38 — 1962 TABLE TALKS ,2a= AmItte-ws. If there's anything more fun than serving your family ice- cold watermelon for dessert on a hot summer evening, it's pro- ducing a crystal dish of spicy watermelon pickle at dinner on a winter evening, or presenting jars filled with it to friends and relatives at Christmas. • * Watermelon pickle is ideal for making even in a kitchenette, in small quantities, and even if your consumption of the fresh fruit is limited. At our house, the con- suming, though appreciative, is slow—a slice or two a day, As each nibbled rind comes to the sink, it is trimmed of outer green and inner pink, cut in cubes, and plunked into a big glass jar half- filled with a weak brine solution (a teaspoon of salt to a quart of water). The jar is kept in the refrigerator till it's full When there's a quart or so of cubes, we drain off the brine and boil the melon in fresh water till tender—but not too soft, Meantime we make a syrup of 2 cups each of water and white vinegar, 4 cups of sugar, a sliced lemon, a stick of cinnamon, and a teaspoon each of whole cloves and all -spice, Can't you smell it now? We add the tender melon to the simmering syrup and let it cook till the rinds are transpar- ent—an hour or more. Then we pack it while hot into sterilized jars, tighten the lids, and set on the counter to cool, writes Edrie Van Dore in the Christian Sci- ence Monitor. * * a Variations on the watermelon pickle theme include versions using ginger and curry powder. Another favorite is called Moth- er Crawford's Mustard Pickles, in honor of the sweet lady who gave it to me. The vegetables are a quart each of cucumbers and green tomatoes cut into chunks, cauli- flower divided into flowerets, and little white pickling onions. These are placed overnight, to- gether with four sliced red pep- pers, in a strong brine — 2 cups salt to 4 quarts water. In the morning, they are heated in this and drained. Then they are add- ed to this sauce: 1 cup flour blended with 6 tablespoons mus- tard, teaspoon turmeric, 2 tea- spoons celery seed, and 1 cup sugar. Slowly blend in 2 cups water and 3 pints vinegar; cook all together till thickened. Add vegetables and cook for 20 min- utes You can see why this is not an operation to be undertak- en in a small kitchen, but the pickles are wonderful. Some day I do intend to make them again. o * 0 Meantime, I'm happily experi- menting with minor projects, and a new one is dilled or pickled string beans, such as have be- come popular for parties. They are expensive to buy, but are easy to make and there's a choice of recipes, What Do You Know About NORTHWEST AFRICA? �:. i??!iii!ni!I•;i:?ii;::.. �: •:.•.??:iii;. !? * DXIOUA'i " a TARHIT EL Dont 0 GOLEA MILES 0 300 fri ftior ie! #4416 - SAHARA * moom Fresh, frozen, or canned beans may be used, The fresh or froz- en may be pickled with or with- out cooking. Easiest of all is just packing the fresh beans in clean hot jars and pouring over them a boiling mixture of; 2 cups each of water and vinegar, a quarter cup salt, a half teaspoon red pep- per, 2 cloves garlic, and a large spray of fresh dill. If you don't have or can't get fresh dill, dried dill seed can be used, about 2 teaspoons, I used this for another batch of beans brought to me by a gardening friend, and this time I cooked them just till tender, drained them, reserving 11,i cups of the cooking water and adding as much vinegar with le cup sugar, 2 teaspoons salt and dill seed, 1 teaspoon hot dried pepper, and 1 clove of garlic, chopped. Beans were simmered a few minutes in this and then packed into jars, ▪ * These, too, will be given to friends at Christmas, together with some pickled mushrooms and I'll tell you about those an- other day. When there's pickling syrup or vinegar left over after the jars are filled, I save it for the next time or add it to the salad -dress- ing bottle (which I maintain much like a stock kettle, adding to it from time to time). N * M Food freezers are becoming an important part of every home- maker's equipment. To mothers of large families, a freezer is al- most a necessity. Where only two people are concerned, they may be termed a luxury. In any case, it is important to know how to use this modern food saver. Here are some tips by owners who have learned that frozen mistakes can be costly. * * . Do not expect to defrost your freezer spasmodically, or only when the frost becomes an inch thick. If you own a family size, possibly every six to eight months will do the trick. Once a year will suffice where the unit is catering to a family of two. Never allow more than a half inch of icing to accumulate. 4 * < To avoid ruining the motor. do not overcrowd the unit with unfrozen foods put in at one time• Partly freeze them first in the freezing compartment of your refrigerator, or chill them tlroroitghly, An overworked nee - tor can turn a necessity into an expensive luxury. The wise freezer owner does not expect to preserve poultry (other than turkey) or wild game birds in a container that is not heavily waxed and first filled with water. Freezing in water prevents burn and keeps the meat in A-1 condition for a longer period. This also applies to most types of fish, q 0 M How many freezer users over- look the fact that the unit will accommodate and preserve more than fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables? Lemon and orange rinds (for easy grating), marsh- mallows, dates, raisins, dried foods, candies, nuts, cranberries, mints, candles, coconut, mush- rooms, herbs, sweet cider, and dry yeast keep very well. Even the dampened laundry will await ironing day in expert fashion. k u p On the other hand, do not at- tempt to freeze fresh whole to- matoes, stuffed poultry, vege- tables without blanching, un - baked yeast breads, overly ripe fruit, deviled eggs, dressing or meat containing sage, powclt red sugar icing made with water or milk, raw potatoes, lettuce, on- ions, celery, cabbage, or eecum- bers. Who would be so foolish as to fill a freezer with unmarked products? One's memory is not to be trusted as to what the unit contains, nor as to when it was frozen. Label! Label! Label! Never refreezze once -thawed foods. They lose their food value and palatability fast. One last word of warning. Keep that freezer at zero tem- perature. And, if you really svant your investment to pay dividends, don't treat it as an other piece of furniture, to be showed into a space where it looks the nicest. Leave plenty of air -passage space around the unit. It dams not take kindly to crowding. Treat your unit with respect and you can expect full returns from every frozen -food dollar. JOIE DE VIVRE -•- Gail Jones jumps for joy while vacation- ing in the Virgin Islands. WELCOME HOME — Caroline Kennedy chats with het father as Mrs Kennedy looks on at Quonset Point Naval Air Station. They had just returned home from o vacation its Italy.