Coral Gables Riviera-Times

MICHAEL QUITS ROMANIAN THRONE TO WED PRINCESS WOOED AT LILYBET'S RITES

BUCHAREST, Dec. 30. (UP)—King Michael of Romania abdicated his throne today, Romania was proclaimed a Republic, and it was believed the youthful ex-King would quit the country to marry Princess Anne de Bourbon-Parma, the woman of his choice. The 26-year-old King who twice had occupied the perilous Romanian throne renounced his Kingship "in my name and in the name of my descendants." It was believed that he would now leave Bucharest in order to marry the Bourbon Princess with whom he fell in love while in London last month to attend the marriage of Princess Elizabeth of Britain. The King's abdication, read to an unsuspecting public over the Romanian radio, was followed immediately by a government proclamation establishing the country as "The Popular Republic of Romania, the fatherland of all those who work." While there was no official statement immediately indicating that Michael's romance was a factor in the abdication, it was generally believed that the cabinet's refusal to permit the wedding at this time was a major factor.

CORAL GABLES Riviera PUBLISHED MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY AFTERNOONS VOL. 21—No. 84 (D) U.P. Leased Wire CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1947 8 PAGES FIVE CENTS MEMBER AUDIT BUREAU OF CIRCULATIONS

NEW PHONE TAX HELD DOUBTFUL Plan 52-Unit Apartment Gables Pact Has Too Long To Run, Says 'Bell Official

COMPANY POLICY SEEN AGAINST RENEGOTIATING SUCH FRANCHISES A Coral Gables' demand for renegotiation of the franchise held by the Southern Bell Telephone Company brought the retort today from District Manager C. J. Tucker that the company has not been in the habit of renegotiating franchises that have nine more years to run. The demand was made yesterday by City Manager William T. McIlwain, who asked that the utility company be required to pay one percent of its gross local receipts to the city and also furnish free local service for official phones. McIlwain's request was based on new franchises granted recently to Miami and Miami Beach. Tucker, who said he was referring the matter to the company's tax experts, told the Riviera-Times today that the Miami franchise was expiring when renegotiated and that the Miami Beach agreement had only two years to run. Free Phones in City Hall "The reason we negotiated a new franchise with the Beach was because we wished to borrow money for an expansion program there and felt we could offer better assurance to the lending institution if we could back our request with a 30-year franchise," Tucker stated. He said that the company had already been paying the one percent on gross receipts to Miami and Miami Beach under the old franchises. The free phone service applied only to the city halls and to a specified number of phones already in service and did not apply to future phones or to those in- (Please turn to Page Eight)

State Backers of Wallace Must 'Write-In' His Name

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Dec. 30. (UP)—Former Commerce Secretary Henry Wallace will have to ask his Florida backers to write in his name on the State's general election ballot when he runs for President in 1948 as a third party candidate. Secretary of State R. A. Gray said today that Florida election laws made no provision for printing names of candidates of a third or independent political party on either the primary or general election ballots. Gray pointed out that Florida's candidates for office must be nominated under laws governing primaries which require a political party to show a membership of more than five percent of the state's registered voters.

THE NATION'S PRESS COMMENTS ON WALLACE CANDIDACY—See Page 8

9 Convicts Still at Large After Alabama Jail Break

MONTGOMERY, Ala., Dec. 30. (UP)—Nine of 10 young white convicts who escaped from Draper Prison Monday afternoon were still at large today as a statewide search was continued by highway patrolmen and prison officials. State Prison Director Frank Boswell said the convicts, most of them serving short sentences, overpowered two guards, took their guns and fled in a prison truck. The State Highway Patrol announced that Donald Donaldson, 21, Jefferson County, serving a year and a day for grand larceny, surrendered last night to Cecil Alexander, Prattville attorney.

N.Y. Homes Without Heat As Snow Bars Deliveries

NEW YORK, Dec. 30. (UP)—Hundreds of homes in the metropolitan area were without heat in freezing weather today, as 30,000 workmen attempted to clear still clogged side streets of snow for fuel trucks to make deliveries. More than 1,500 requests for assistance in obtaining fuel have been received by the Health Department since the heaviest snowfall in the city's history—25.8 inches—blocked the streets on Friday. Fuel oil and coal trucks were unable to reach many sections of the city. A tugboat strike was threatened for midnight tomorrow, when the contract of 3,500 tugboatmen with shipowners ends. The men are seeking a 30-cent an hour wage increase. It was recalled that the crippling tugboat strike in February of last year cut off the city's fuel and caused Mayor William O'Dwyer to shut down all business in New York for the duration of the crisis.

47 Killed, 61 Wounded In Bloody Palestine Battle

JERUSALEM, Dec. 30. (UP)—The bloodiest battle of Palestine's war of hate was fought at a Haifa oil refinery today, with casualties officially reported as 47 persons killed and 61 wounded. Jewish attackers hurled bombs from a speeding limousine into a line of 100 Arabs at the plant. The infuriated Arab survivors attacked their fellow Jewish employes and felled them by the score in frenzied beating, stabbing and kicking. The dead were listed officially as 36 Jews and 11 Arabs. Of the 61 injured 14 were Jews and 47 were Arabs. Palestine authorities credited the bombing attack on the Arabs at the Haifa Consolidated Refineries to the "Black Squad" of the Irgun Zvai Leumi, sworn to exact vengeance for every Jew slain. Even as Haifa was struck, Jewish thugs hurled bombs into a speeding car at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. More than a dozen persons died in the blast and the fighting it set off. After the Haifa bombing today, the Arabs ran amok. They swarmed over every Jew within reach and raced through the plant searching out those who tried to hide in offices and byways.

Dry Ice Fails, Snowless St. Pete's Happy Anyway

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Dec. 30. (UP)—Operation Snowflake, an attempt to make it snow over this "Sunshine City" by dry-icing clouds, was hailed as a success today. It didn't snow. That, said City Publicity Director Pressly Phillips, was exactly what he wanted to prove—that even the best efforts of science would not produce snow for this gulf coast tourist center. Pilot Bob Leon took off with 100 pounds of dry ice and dropped it in the right sort of stratus-cumulus clouds at 12,000 feet, in 31 degree weather. He dived beneath the clouds, but found no snow falling.

$14,500 in Jewels Stolen

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Dec. 30. (UP)—A cat burglar escaped amid the screams of his victims with $14,500 in jewels and cash from the bedroom of Mr. and Mrs. David Milgrim here early today. The Milgrim's, owners of swank women's shops on Lincoln Road here and in New York, had visited the Copa Cabana night club earlier in the evening, and police believed the thief spotted the jewels there. The couple awoke as the robber, a small man wearing a dark hat, was taking the jewels, valued at $13,500 and the money from the bedroom dresser. They screamed and he fled. He entered the home by removing a window screen, and apparently went directly to where the gems were hidden, police said.