In this installment of a Look Back in Time, Chehalis resident Verill H. Raap recalls his time locked up in the infamous Alcatraz Island prison and talking with famous Chicago mobster Al Capone as he accused the prison’s warden of “inhumane treatment” of inmates in the Friday, April 12, 1935, edition of The Chronicle.
In the Thursday, April 12, 1945, edition of The Chronicle, it was reported Centralian Leonard C. Gunn was arrested by the FBI in Chehalis on charges of illegally wearing a military uniform while trying to organize a local Civil Air Patrol chapter.
Smelt enthusiasts were enjoying buying the fish for as cheap as $0.45 for 6 pounds after the Cowlitz River smelt run had “record numbers” over the prior weekend, as was reported in the Tuesday, April 12, 1955, edition of The Chronicle.
In educational news, Centralia College students won their second state debate championship in three years, as reported in the Monday, April 12, 1965 edition of The Chronicle.
A Look Back in Time was compiled using Chronicle archives at the Lewis County Historical Museum along with digital archives on newspapers.com.
Friday, April 12, 1935
• Verill H. Raap of Chehalis was interviewed while incarcerated at the Lewis County Jail following time he had spent locked up at the infamous federal prison on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, The Chronicle reported. Raap ended up at Alcatraz after he allegedly had assaulted a sheriff’s deputy, stealing his revolver and escaping after being arrested in connection with robbing a post office in Lebam three years earlier. After escaping from Washington state, he was eventually caught in California, where he was sentenced and sent to Alcatraz. Back in Lewis County, he was being held on charges of jailbreak and assault and had levied his own charge against Alcatraz Island Warden James A. Johnston that prisoners at the facility were subjected to “inhumane treatment.” According to Raap, conditions at Alcatraz were so bad that three prisoners had gone insane during his time there, with a fourth verging on madness. However, he denied reports that the famous Chicago mobster Al Capone was “verging on madness.” “Al Capone is just like all the rest of us, he just doesn’t know what it’s all about,” Raap asserted. He added that he had a “speaking acquaintance” with the Chicago gang leader. Johnston denied Raap’s claims of inhumane treatment, saying, “It just isn’t so.” The warden also denied Raap’s declaration that a cell beneath the regular cell block, condemned when Alcatraz was an Army prison, is now being used and that being sent to “the hole” is the most dreaded punishment on the island.
• Talks of reopening a Tenino quarry for granite extraction followed a congressional measure that included around $2 million in funding for the Skookumchuck granite project, The Chronicle reported. “The deposit at Quarry No. 6 is considered the best of its kind west of the Mississippi and has the approval of the government as such. It is located at the gorge about 10 miles southeast of Tenino,” the article stated. Provisions in the measure included a stipulation that workers would only labor for six hours a day. The operation was expected to take about two years and require between 200 and 400 workers, who were expected to remove and load stone on between 150 to 200 train cars per day. “The stone is porphyry granite and stands in a cliff from 150 to 450 feet high for a mile along the river,” the article stated.
• W.F. West and his wife, Blanch West, of Chehalis, returned from a six-week trip to Southern California and “other places of interest,” The Chronicle reported. Some of the places the Wests visited on their trip included the Boulder Dam (now known as the Hoover Dam) along with spending time in San Diego, Los Angeles and Hollywood. “While in the latter city they met J.P. Hurley and others well known in Chehalis,” The Chronicle reported.
• Two loggers were injured in separate incidents in Hoquiam, The Chronicle reported. The first was Floyd Henderson, of Aberdeen, who was dragged by a Northwester Logging Company locomotive and suffered a fractured right leg. “Fred Figish, North River Logging Company employee, suffered a fractured foot when he slipped through a pile of limbs,” The Chronicle reported.
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story about Adolf Hitler and the German Reich government telling Britain, France and Italy “today she is willing to take part in efforts to forestall war” by entering into an eastern non-aggression pact. Former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Konstantin von Neurath gave British Foreign Secretary Sir John Simon assurances Germany would join an eastern agreement, something that both French and Russian officials supported at the League of Nations. Hitler had previously objected to such a pact prior to this report.
Thursday, April 12, 1945
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story on the sudden death of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose death was attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. “A White House statement said: ‘Vice President (Harry S.) Truman has been notified. He was called to the White House and informed by Mrs. Roosevelt.’” A former Missouri county judge, U.S. senator and “one-time Kansas City haberdasher,” Truman was sworn in as the 32nd president at “7:09 o’clock” that day.
• U.S. Navy sailor Howard Anderson, 17, of Winlock, was killed during a landing operation on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, The Chronicle reported. Being the adopted son of Myrtle Anderson, of Winlock, Myrtle learned of Howard’s death from the mother of one of his fellow sailors. Official notice of his death was not given to her as Howard had enlisted when he was 15 and reported he had no parents in order to be accepted into the service. Myrtle learned Howard was killed on Saipan while assisting a fellow wounded sailor, carrying him back for medical attention when he was struck by a “sniper’s bullet.”
• The FBI arrested Leonard C. Gunn, of Centralia, on charges of illegally wearing the uniform of a U.S. Army Air Corps first lieutenant and he was being detained at the Lewis County Jail, The Chronicle reported. “Gunn was said to have been engaged in organizing a Civil Air Patrol wing in Chehalis at the time of his arrest, and had claimed to be on leave from the Army for that purpose.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story on reports of the horrors of the Nazi Auschwitz Concentration Camp as recounted by Dr. Bela Fabian, president of the dissolved Hungarian independent democratic party. “Fabian said he was taken to Auschwitz 10 months with 500,000 other Hungarian Jews, and 400,000 were gassed and cremated in the first two months,” The Chronicle reported. He added prisoners from throughout Europe were at Auschwitz, including prisoners from Belgium, Holland, France, Poland and Greece.
• The Chronicle published an opinion by Dewitt MacKenzie titled “Nazism Will Die When Hitler Does.” MacKenzie talked of rumored splits in the German Nazi Party along with an unconfirmed reporter Adolf Hitler had been assassinated. “Having studied Hitler at close range in Germany, I have ventured the belief he is the mainspring of Naziism — in fact, he and Naziism are one and the same thing, and his death or incapacitation or produce a collapse both of the military machine and of the government,” MacKenzie wrote.
• Centralia Mayor Ray W. Sprague made a proclamation urging local drivers to cooperate with a nationwide brake emphasis program by June 1, The Chronicle reported. “It is necessary as a patriotic and humanitarian duty, to reduce the frightful toll of automobile accident fatalities and injuries to an absolute minimum,” Sprague said in the proclamation. The Washington State Patrol was going to be checking driver’s brakes of all cars involved in traffic violations and accidents.
• A three-bedroom house in west Centralia was listed for sale in the classifieds for $2,650.
Tuesday, April 12, 1955
• Fish lovers looking to eat smelt could dine on the small fish cheaply in the Twin Cities, The Chronicle reported. “Smelt, which over the weekend ran in record numbers on the Cowlitz (River), were selling six pounds for 39 cents at one Twin City meat market Tuesday Morning.” The going price for smelt at the beginning of the season was $0.45 per pound. Another market now listed three pounds of smelt on sale for a quarter. “The 1955 smelt season, however, was the longest in years. Its ending, like the unpredictable fish itself, has some unusual slants. Smelt are available in huge quantities, and the fish are the largest and best in years — and almost nobody cares.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story on the ongoing search for a survivor of a plane crash in the Simcoe Mountains northeast of Goldendale that was being hampered by snow storms. Henry Baker, 20, of The Dalles, Oregon, was flying with Jack LaRocque, 40, of The Dalles, when LaRocque’s light plane crashed high on a Simcoe peak on Saturday. Both men survived the crash, but LaRocque was injured and Baker decided to descend down the mountain to seek aid for him. While rescuers had located the crash site and LaRocque, who was recovering at a hospital, Baker was still missing. The snow not only made it harder to find him, but also reduced his survival chances. “Lt. Rober Kittelson, co-pilot of an Air Force helicopter which took part in the unsuccessful search Monday said after a flight over the area, ‘If the guy’s still alive, it’s a miracle.’”
• Lewis County commissioners formally established Lewis County Fire District 5 in Napavine, following a special election held in Napavine where residents voted 157-15 in favor of establishing the fire district, The Chronicle reported.
• Chehalis residents were calling for more low-cost housing as the city after a census showed the population had grown from 4,558 in 1920 to 5,748 in 1954 during a Chehalis Adventure in Cooperation meeting, The Chronicle reported. “However, several building contractors pointed out that Chehalins ‘don’t go’ for cheap houses but prefer homes in the $12,000 to $15,000 range.” During the meeting, discussions were also held as to why so many Chehalis workers lived in Centralia or other areas outside of Chehalis.
• Plans for a new medical clinic in Randle were revealed at a Civic Club meeting, The Chronicle reported. “The clinic will be built by Drs. Brandt Bede and J. Arnold Wark of Morton.” A site had already been selected and construction was expected to start on May 1, and it was hoped the clinic would be open by June 1.
• A three-bedroom home featuring “wall to wall carpeting, enclosed back yard with patio, shrubs and trees, birch kitchen cabinets” and an attached garage and utility room in Centralia was listed for sale in the classifieds for $12,500.
Monday, April 12, 1965
• Centralia College forensics team students dominated the Washington Community College Forensics Commission debate tournament in Vancouver over the weekend, The Chronicle reported, winning their second state title in three years. “The Centralia team totaled twice as many points as any other school in the tourney to bring home the traveling sweepstakes trophy.” Centralia Colleges students took first and second place in debate and had finalists in every one of the individual events. Shirley Petropoulos and Jim Bacon won the debate championship, with Mike Dugaw and Mike Roewe taking second in debate. “The two Centralia teams found themselves in a strange situation in debating among themselves for the crown.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story on a North Vietnamese paper rejecting an offer from U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson for unconditional peace talks and derided the president’s proposal of $1 billion in aid to Southeast Asia. “We resolutely fight to the end, that is our answer,” the official Hanoi newspaper Nhan Dan said in a 2,000-word editorial Sunday. The editorial said Johnson’s aid proposal impressed no one but “a handful of traitors hankering after the milk and butter left unfinished by U.S. imperialists.” The U.S. State Department did not view this as an official rejection however. “North Vietnam has not rejected anything,” said Undersecretary of State George Ball.
• Nine-year old Lora Jungmayer, of Bucoda, was recovering at home after eye surgery the previous week, The Chronicle reported. The surgery was done at Centralia General Hospital, “for the removal of a cataract from her left eye.”
• A pair of 18-year-old Centralians were arrested and charged with illegal possession or consumption of liquor while minors, The Chronicle reported. “Andian C. McDaniel posted $25 bail and was released, and a female companion, Shirley Tellinghiusen, was released on her personal recognizance.”
• The 1965 Lewis County Dairy Princess candidates and their mothers were set to be the special guests at the upcoming fifth birthday meeting on Wednesday of the Lewis County Dairy Wives organization, The Chronicle reported. “The short meeting will be followed by refreshments. All officers and members are urged to attend.”
• A two-bedroom home with a concrete foundation, electricity, a garage and workshop in Centralia was listed for sale in the classifieds for $7,500.
Saturday, April 12, 1975
• Plans were announced to build a new high school in Rainier, part of a project featuring multiple new school buildings built in the South Thurston County community for youth of all ages, The Chronicle reported. The new high school’s cost was estimated at $1,550,937, while a new grade school for children in kindergarten through the sixth grade was being built at a cost of $826,805. The grade school was “scheduled to be completed in late summer and ready for occupancy Sept. 1.” The new high school was expected to be completed “sometime during the next school year.”
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story on the arrest of Thomas Noel Rettig, 33, who starred in the “Lassie” television series in the 1950s. He was arrested on charges of conspiring to import cocaine according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials. “Rettig was arrested at his home in Morro Bay Thursday. Agents said he had brought cocaine from Peru to California by hiding the material in a bottle that normally contained a popular Peruvian liquor.” Rettig was exonerated of the charges in 1976.
• Lewis County Senior Citizens Center officials and associated senior nutrition program workers issued a plea for volunteer help, The Chronicle reported. Assistance was needed in driving the elderly to and from the senior center, along with drivers for day-long small group tours on mini-buses. “In the tours, groups of 13 are taken to scenic, historical and other points of interest in the Northwest.” Volunteers were also needed to deliver meals to “homebound” seniors, along with those willing to assist homebound seniors with providing minor home repairs, cleaning and maintenance.
• The Chronicle featured an Associated Press story on the potential loss of thousands of newborn calves in Montana after a three-day-long blizzard hit the region, leaving many cattle in the area without food. “An emergency haylift to the snow-stranded cattle in north-central Montana may have come too late for as many as 33,000 newborn calves trapped by a raging three-day blizzard. ‘There’s no doubt there’s going to be heavy losses,’ said Leo Kolstad, regional chairman of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s emergency board.” Of the region’s 161,420 newborn calves that year, it was estimated the blizzard killed as many as 20% of them.
• A four-bedroom home near Centralia College was listed for sale in the classifieds for $19,500.
