A Look Back in Time: Three Men Arrested for Beating and Robbing Morton Man in 1952

Jul. 22—Three young men held in the Lewis County Jail confessed to a "brutal slugging and robbery" of Larson Phelps, a 63-year-old Morton resident, adding they were "glad he's still alive."

Glen Core, 20, and Tommy Martin, 23, both of Alder, and Paul Welch, 20, of Tacoma, were arrested on July 22, 1952, after committing the crime at about 1:15 a.m. on Friday, July 18.

The three "youths," as they were described in reporting at the time, were charged with first-degree assault and robbery. Each had their bail set at $5,000. Phelps was taken to a Morton hospital for a skull fracture, concussion, shock and severe cuts and bruises after being discovered unconscious. Lewis County Deputy Sheriff Hilton said the three men were financially motivated, claiming "the boys were broke."

According to Hilton, the men saw Phelps in Morton the night of July 17 and decided to rob him. The Chronicle reported the original plan was to simply rob him. Core and Welch hid in an alley while Martin watched for Phelps to walk by.

"When Martin whistled, letting us know it was Phelps coming, I figured now was as good a time as any to slug him. I thought I would have enough nerve later," Welch said.

Welch had grabbed Phelps and raised the butt of a gun he had. When Phelps realized what was happening, he shouted, "Don't do it boys." Welch hit Phelps with the gun once and raised his arm to hit him a second time when Phelps knocked the gun out of his hand. The two then wrestled in the street until "the youth subdued him with his fists."

Core then began searching Phelps' pockets while Welch searched the area for his gun. Core had only searched one pocket, finding $51, before he saw a car approaching from down the street.

Martin and Core hid beneath a nearby railroad bridge for most of the night while Welch hid behind some rocks on the Elbe Highway, hitchhiking home the next morning. While the men were hiding, police officers recorded the license number of all the cars in the area, tracing one of them to Martin.

Martin came under suspicion while Hilton questioned him. Core was found by the police at his aunt's home in Renton while Welch was picked up by officers at a lumber yard in Seattle where he worked.

"The youths returned to Lewis County with me on their own free will and were not placed under arrest until we arrived in Chehalis," Hilton said. "They said they were glad to get it over with."

According to Hilton, The Pierce County Sheriff's Office assisted in tracking down the men.

July 23, 1932

—Charles Browning, 67, died early on the morning of July 23 after suffering a stroke that paralyzed him. Browning, a member of a prominent pioneer family, was born at Claquato where he lived his entire life.

—Centralia resident Arthur Densmore, 42, died at a local hospital on the night of July 22. Densmore died from injuries he sustained after part of an old trestle on Coal Creek fell and struck him. "He lay helpless for two hours beneath the timber," The Chronicle reported. Densmore was found by two men who had gone looking for him after he didn't show up for work. An emergency operation was performed and a "lung motor" was used on him for three hours in an effort to keep him alive. Densmore was survived by his wife, Alice, and daughter, Hazel. He had lived in Centralia for 12 years at the time of his death.

—Charges against Bert Hartman were dropped by U.S. Commissioner Wm. H. Spath, of Chehalis. Hartman was accused of violating laws related to alcohol. At the time, the U.S. was under prohibition, with alcohol largely banned under the federal constitution. Spath said he had a policy to "dismiss charges against a defendant if there was evidence that he had been 'induced to commit a crime,'" The Chronicle reported.

—Hazel Frost, the eldest daughter of "Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Frost," of Chehalis, was in a Seattle hospital due to ptomaine poisoning. Frost had become sick on Thursday, July 21, after eating a salad at a restaurant in downtown Seattle. Frost's mother had gone to Seattle on July 22 to see her daughter, with Frost's father expected to come to Seattle on July 24. Frost was reported as recovering and likely to be released the next day.

—Lewis County school district superintendents had been invited to attend a Winlock meeting to hear Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. N.D. Showalter speak. According to The Chronicle, property values had been in decline in Lewis County at the time, causing school revenues to fall. The Centralia School District was expected to take in $25,615.89 during the upcoming school year compared to the prior year.

—A fire occurred in Morton on Wednesday, July 20, destroying the home of E.B. Barnum. Described as "one of the most spectacular fires in Morton's recent history" by The Chronicle, the fire allegedly started after gasoline ignited while being used for cleaning. "(The flames) spread so rapidly that little was saved from the burning building," The Chronicle reported.

—A group of 20 Boy Scouts from Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, stopped in Morton on July 23. The group had traveled 8,000 miles in about two weeks when they arrived. After a luncheon, the Scouts went to the plant of the Consolidated Mercury Mining Company for one of the educational visits of their tour. The Scouts were expected to arrive in Los Angeles in time to attend the 1932 Olympic Games, with more stops visiting mining and industrial plants planned along the way. They planned to arrive back in Pennsylvania six weeks after they left.

July 23, 1942

—Centralia resident Reynold Crawford, 20, was among the missing after a U.S. Navy cruiser was sunk in combat. According to Crawford's father, Crawford likely disappeared in the Pacific Ocean, as his son was in Hawaii the last time they had communicated. Crawford, who The Chronicle described as a "young war martyr," was born in Tacoma and lived in Centralia from 1929 until July 1940 when he quit high school to enlist in the Navy. He had worked as a carrier for The Chronicle and was a member of the Edison school boy patrol while in elementary school. Crawford's half brother, Loyal Crawford, was serving in the Army at the time.

—Glenn Wyley, 36, was reported as the first Chehalis resident killed in World War II. He had been on board a cargo ship when it was sunk by "enemy action." The ship, the S.S. Edward Luckenbach, was sunk on July 1. Wyley's parents last saw their son when he visited Chehalis in February 1942 and had not heard from him since then. It was unclear whether Wyley's body had been recovered.

—The July 1942 closure of Plummer Lake was caused by conditions The Chronicle described as "temporary and man-made." L.G. Martin, the chair of the committee in charge of the recreational area of Plummer Lake, said in a statement the lake would reopen once the conditions in the lake returned to normal. Apparently construction work being done to harvest sand and gravel for the construction of the Chehalis Airport had pushed in large amounts of topsoil, contaminating the lake for swimmers. According to Martin, if the construction work were to stop, the lake would be safe within a few days. However, due to the ongoing war, the construction work had to continue.

—Jane Beam, the daughter of Chehalis residents "Mr. and Mrs. George Angst," was scheduled to speak to the Chehalis Kiwanis Club on July 23. Beam had been in Honolulu at the time of the Pearl Harbor attacks on Dec. 7, 1941, and was expected to speak on her experience.

—Centralia Mayor Ray Sprague announced Ed Mayes as the new local defense coordinator for Centralia. Mayes would be replacing Lloyd Dysart, who was forced to resign from the position due to his position as chair of the Centralia Draft Board. While Dysart would be stepping down as local defense coordinator, he would continue to serve in an advisory capacity. Another Centralia office, the health officer, would also be seeing a new person appointed. The new health officer, Dr. Hackney, was scheduled to take office on Aug. 1 after then health officer Dr. Kroger announced he was leaving to join the military as a first lieutenant in the medical corps.

—James Neal spoke at the International Convention of the Kiwanis Club in Cleveland about the need to do what is necessary to win the ongoing war. Neal, an Olympia resident and international chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the U.S. Kiwanis Club, spoke to a crowd of 5,336. "We must make the people of the nation realize that there is much which must be done if we are to win the war," said Neal.

—Two deaf men engaged in a sign language argument and a knife fight in a Chicago tavern. During the sign language argument, Joe Guepfer, 45, broke a cane over the head of another man who had called Guepfer an "obscene name" in sign language. The other man responded by stabbing Guepfer in the abdomen. Guepfer then ran into a police station where he wrote the name of the man who stabbed him on a pad belonging to a police officer. The officer then arrested the man while Guepfer was taken to a hospital where he was declared to be in serious condition.

July 23, 1952

—Lewis County experienced its first rainshower of July, with .17 inches of rain measured at Centralia City Hall. "Twin City and Lewis County residents wondered Wednesday if their summer has come and gone," The Chronicle reported. The rain had been preceded by a couple days of "autumn-like clouds" before the downpour began on the night of July 22. Weather reports expected more rain in the coming days.

—State Sen. Don Eastvold was expected to speak at a meeting of the Lewis County Young Republicans' Club, club president Art Wepsala announced. Eastvold had attended the Republican Convention in Chicago, where the party had nominated Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon for president and vice president, and planned to speak on his experiences there. The public was invited to attend the event, which was scheduled for Monday, Aug. 11 at 8 p.m.

—Warren Sullivan, a Centralia fireman, and his "small daughter," Vickie, were recovering "satisfactorily" after receiving burns on July 22. The two had suffered burns from sulfur dioxide after a compressor on a refrigerator exploded. Warren Sullivan had received the "full force" of the blast, though Vickie Sullivan had received a splash on her cheek. The Chronicle reported Warren Sullivan told Centralia Fire Chief Don Barner he expected to be "ready to work his regular shift on Thursday, (July 24)."

—A five-room house on South Gold Street in Centralia was listed for $3,000 in the July 23 edition of The Chronicle. The house was described as "including closets, bathroom, fruit room, lots of fruit, garden, flowers" and as being "three blocks from stop light."

—A five-room furnished house on Adams Avenue in Chehalis was listed for $6,500.

—About 1,800 Lewis County residents were expected to receive higher Social Security payments as a result of changes to Social Security laws signed by then president Harry Truman. The Chronicle said the increase for most families would amount to about $5 a month.

—A Centralia High School student was voted "high honor" at the high school summer camp at Washington State University, then called Washington State College. Sheldon Larabee was selected for the honor by his fellow students, the faculty of the camp and the camp counselors. It was Larabee's fourth year in attendance at the camp. "Anytime you have any other students like Sheldon who are desirous of coming to summer camp, we will be happy indeed to have them," W.H. Veatch, director of the camp, wrote to Centralia High School Principal Harold Gehrke. Larabee had been elected to serve as Centralia High School's student body president during the upcoming school year.

Monday, July 23, 1962

—Prosecutor John Panesko pushed for more action in the trial of Morton lawyer William Wallis after his case was dropped from the Lewis County Superior Court's spring docket. Wallis' case involved four counts of grand larceny by the embezzlement of funds from estates. Panesko sought to hold a hearing on July 23 but Judge John Murray rescheduled the hearing for Wednesday, July 25, because of Wallis' absence. Wallis' case was removed from the spring docket after he entered a plea of innocence by reason of insanity.

—Charles Lee Grose, 40, of Packwood, and Eugene Cullison, 28 of Anacortes, were held in Lewis County Jail on $1,500 bail each on charges of "carnal knowledge" involving a 14-year-old eastern Lewis County girl. Cullison's charges included an additional abuse charge stemming from a 1960 incident when the girl was 12 years old. No additional details were provided regarding Grose's charges. Both pleaded guilty to the charges before Judge James Gober.

—Over the weekend of July 21 and 22, the Twin Cities experienced an increase in temperature. Temperatures reached 89 degrees "but undoubtedly it was hotter in many communities than that," The Chronicle reported. The 89 degree temperature was the highest recorded up to that point during the summer of 1962. Temperatures were expected to remain high on July 23.

—Ann Furshang, of Anaconda, Montana, and Melba Schram, of Puyallup, were involved in a car accident near Packwood at around 5:45 p.m. on July 22. Both were taken to the Morton hospital for treatment of back injuries sustained in the crash. The drivers of the vehicles were Reynold Schram, of Puyallup, and Michael Gallagher, of Naches, though it was unclear which cars the women were in.

—Centralia police were investigating the death of a 17-year-old Pe Ell youth on the afternoon of July 21. The youth, David Pedersen, was married to an unnamed woman. Pedersen had been in a car that was apparently thrown under the passing train and dragged 243 feet. Pedersen was born in Chehalis on Oct. 7, 1944, and had lived his entire life in the Pe Ell area. A funeral service was to be held at 11 a.m. on July 24 at the Dryad Community Church with Pedersen's body to be interred at Claquato Cemetery.

—Ephriam Long, 86, died on the night of Friday, July 20, at a Chehalis hospital. Long was born on July 6, 1876, in Auburn, Nebraska. He was survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. A funeral service was held at Newell-Hoerling's in Centralia.

—Mary Plunkett, an 8-year-old girl from Stamford, Connecticut, brought the rotating restaurant in the newly built Seattle Space Needle to a halt on Sunday, July 22. Plunkett had gotten her shoe caught between a partition and the turntable in the Space Needle and required the assistance of firemen before being freed. After being freed, Plunkett was taken to a hospital for precautionary x-rays.