Springfield Leader and Press from Springfield, Missouri • 1

1 MTjno C4 flM Good times Puppet show fe r- rr-; Sports- Navratilova, Lloyd advance to Wimbledon finals1 Chris Evert Lloyd in at a i a at SMS tent theat en ON fv in nr a 00 The Springfield Member ol the Gannett Group 25 1984 Springfield Newspapers Inc. 62 Pages, Four Sections SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, THURSDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 5. 1984 'ill iiB i Wrtsffi i tttiasfr Assaults i TIO ve eoiee Don Mahnken C7 omsy HI 5 A. Ad from '13 says city home is from Sears "1 fm nrrvrn TmirnTi I 1 1 1 1 i J. I i I 3 i 5 i i i 1 i ii i i By Chris Whitley The Leader Press Something besides fireworks was in the air late Wednesday and early today, judging from Springfield police reports which showed officers kept busy throughout the night investigating a.

series of unrelated assaults and attacks: About 8:30 p.m., a 23-year-old woman told police she had been raped in a room at the Missouri Hotel, 414 E. Commercial St. The woman told police she was standing in the third floor hallway about 8 p.m. when ajtnan grabbed her from behind, forced her into a room and raped her. The woman was taken to Cox Medical Center but refused a rape examination and treatment, police said.

Police said the suspect was described as being black, about 40 years old, 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds and having black hair and brown eyes. He may fywe been wearing a blue shirt, blue jeans and tennis shnes, police said. About an hour after the reported rape, 72-year-old man was robbed of about $340 cash by two young men after he let them into his home in the 1 100 block of North Nettleton Avenue to make a telephone call, police said. Police said two teen-agers told the man their car had stalled several blocks down the street The man said he let See POLICE, Page 2A kbit. "'4 "v- Start PhotoSandy Watson years ago.

The home was one of more than 100,000 ordered from the Sears Modern Home catalog between 1908 and 1937. In the second decade of the 20th Century, probably 191 1 or '12, Springfield postal clerk Homer J. Leeper and his wife. Edith started planning for a house on the lot they bought on Webster Street. settled on one they found in the Sears, Roebuck and Co.

catalog, it was a seven room, two-story house with ail materials necessary to frame the structure supplied in kit form by the Chicago-based mail order sales company. The house they built stands at 619 Webster per-Kips the only Springfield home built from a Sears kit in the period from I9U8 to 1937, when Sears operated its Modern Homes department. --The Leepers apparently were pleased with their home. He wrote a letter to the company which appeared in the Fall t9Ki catalog "Gentlemen: built this house according to your blue prints, not making a single change Am exceedingly well pleased with Hie material and with the house as a whole. Should I build again, you will hear from me.

respectfully, "Homer J. Leeper." The letter referred to Modern Home No. 161, priced at $916, with the total construction cost estimated by Sears at $1,870 when labor, cement brick and plaster were added. The letter was accompanied by a photograph of the house supplied by Leeper. He was one of more than 100,000 Americans who ordered their houses from Sears in about the first one-third of the 20th Century.

His testimonial letter appeared on Page 80 of the Sears' Fall 1913 Modern Homes Catalog. U-eper listed his address as 417 W. Webster St. However, because of a change in the Springfield street numbering system, the house now carries 619, appearing from the outside much the way it did in the snapshot the Springfield man sent Sears. It now is occupied by the family of Gene Shipman, who bought it barely a month ago from the owner of the last This home of 619 W.

Webster St. looks much like it did when it was built from a Sears, Roebuck and Co. kit more than 70 eight years, Mrs. Bessie G. Dodson.

The Shipmans, who moved here from St, Louis, an older neighbor told them she thouat the house was built from a kit. But they had no idea it was a "Sears house." Neither did Mrs. Dodson. "I didn't know anything about that," she said. The Dod-sons didn't make any changes in the house.

"We didn't tear out any walls. All Arthur did was insulate and improve it." Shipman, who plans to start a home repair and maintenance business in Springfield, said lumber in the house "seems like good material." He noted beams in the basement with posts under them appear to have been added. But there are few if any wall cracks, which should accompany the settling of a house built 72 years ago. "For $969 we will furnish all the material to build this seven-room house, consisting of mill work, ceiling, siding, flooring, finishing lumber, building paper, pipe, gutter, sash weights, hardware, painting material, lumber, lath and shingles. No extras, as we guarantee enough material at the above price to build this house according to our pl.ns."; Sears even gave fi the finished" cost "By allowing a fair price for labor, cement, brick and plaster, which we do not furnish, the house can be built for about $1,870, including all material and labor." The Leeper home appeared virtually by itself in the photograph Sears published.

Another house may be seen through the right side of the porch, apparently on Calhoun Street to the north. Leeper and his wife acquired the property on Jan. 27, 1911, for $600, according to the abstract. They owned it until selling to Otis and Bessie Mosier on May 25, 1926, when a deed of trust was issued for $3,000. Present neighbors remember the house always was there.

A distant cousin of Homer leeper, Eldridge Leeper of Ash Grove, said he thought Homer Leeper was an only child and he didn't think the Leepers had any children. After Homer Leeper's death, Mrs. Leeper moved east, El- Sce MAHNKEN, Page 2A Grime in city drops in first half of '84 Crime in Springfield was down 16.4 percent in the first half of 1984 compared to the first six months of 1983, despite a slight increase in violent crimes for the period, according to police statistics released today. All told, there were 5,403 crimes reported in the first half of 1983, compared to 4,517 crimes reported in the first six months of 1984. The monthly report shows property crimes burglaries, property thefts and motor vehicle thefts were down 17.1 percent, from 5,237 incidents reported in January- June 1983, to 4,341 incidents in the first half of this year.

Increases in murders, robberies and assaults offset a marked decrease in rapes, leaving the violent crimes category with 176 reports this year, up 10 reports from last year for an overall increase of 6 percent. Specifically, the crime categories showed these changes, according to the report: Murders increased 75 percent, from four to seven. Rapes decreased 13.6 percent, from 22 to 19. Assaults Increased 6.7 percent, from 75 to 80. Burglaries, overall, decreased 14.3 percent, from 1,269 to 1,088.

The sub-category of commercial burglaries decreased 10 percent, from 416 to 374, while home burglaries were down 16.2 percent, from 853 to 714. Thefts, which traditionally account for most reported crimes, were down 19 percent, from 3,774 to 3,057. The sub category of thefts of motor vehicle parts decreased 39.5 percent, from 1,549 to 937. Motor vehicle thefts increased about 1 percent, from 194 to 196. Soviet journalist to talk to Peltier at Med Center physicist whose near-captive state and medical condition has been in the news off and on for many months.

Federal Medical Center officials said last week they had been besieged by requests from journalists wanting to interview Peltier since the Soviets have focused on him. Taylor, assistant to the warden, said officials had decided to allow only one interview a month with Peltier, with the choice of media reporter being up to Peltier. Taylor said today that no interview was conducted last month, so the one with the Novosti reporter would presumably fill the allotment for July. starvation. Peltier, an American Indian activist convicted in the 1975 murder of two FBI agents in South Dakota, began a hunger strike at a federal prison In Marion, several weeks ago to protest a lack of freedom to practice his religion inside the prison walls.

He was transferred the Medi-' cal Center here, where force-feeding measures are available. However, prison officials say Peltier began eating regularly after his arrival here and is in good health. U.S. officials believe the Soviets have played up Peltier's story to turn attention away from the plight of Russian dissident Andrei Sahkorov, a Nobel peace prize winner and By Mike Schilling The Leader Ptoss A journalist from the Soviet Union was scheduled to interview Leonard Peltier, an inmate at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners here, this afternoon. Prison spokesman Paul Taylor identified the reporter as Vladmir Simonov, who represents the Novosti Press Agency.

The Soviet press has reportedly carried several stories about Peltier in recent weeks, alleging that he is a political prisoner who is being mistreated and is near death from Battlefield cannon's blasts dwarf pops of neighborhood firecrackers Good afternoon VOL, 52 NO. 36 4 V-v i fa r. i mult. .1 On the inside Ann Landers 2D Classified 6 8C Comics AB Crossword puzzle Daily record 2D Deaths Editorial 8A Good times 1-12D Horoscope 2D Local MB Marketplace 9-10C Sports .1 5C TV 10D By Louise Whall The Leader Pre The pop of firecrackers going off all over town Wednes-day couldn't hold candle to the cannon shots that cracked the air at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield throughout the humid afternoon. On one of the several special occasions each year, the park service people rolled out the three-quarters scale rrp-lica of a 6 pound field gun to demonstrate for the families visiting the Civil War battlefield for the July Fourth holiday.

Park Historian Richard I 7 V' Hatcher explained how the cannon was used in Civil War battles and described each step of the firing prcwe. His pre- Spotlight ing aids down and get a good rein on pets, a resounding crack pierced the air and the resulting smoke settled on the grass. The cannon belongs to Fleet Kerr, a Springfield Civil War buff who brings It out to the battlefield for patriotic holidays and other special occasions, such as the Aug. 10 anniversary of the Wilson' Creek battle. A retired carpenter, Kerr built the cannon 23 years ago, using government prints and specifications to make it authentic.

It's part of his collection of Civil War era weapons, clothe and memorabilia. Hi for the Civil War began at age 6 at his family's Nixa home when he discovered a saber in i pile of scrap iron. He aikcd his father altotit it and was told to put it hack where he found it because It was associated with killing. It is a faw Inntion undoubtedly born bIho from family history t'ne of the Kerr's grandfathers fought for the Union army and the other fought for the Confederal v. Kerf was only 17 at the time of the Wilson's Creek battle," Kerr Mid, pulling a small framed antique future of (hrnitopber Columbus Kerf ftoin his Union blue uniform! Ill Mtlief erindMher, Junes, fielongerf to the on ledefacy I fj'h Ti uneven Mountain R.fle Ki-giim nt.

After the n.if wki over, be moved hit hmily to Mi -ouri Kerr vi in but I ml Wir re en.n In' l.ave t.iUen llii ir I ii lie In shot te e. he ImiI be no II 'i I ifi of up In f.ivot.le i iMili.e Partly sunny Tonight, fair. Low In the mid 60. Winds light and southerly, fridov, portly Cloudy, 70 percent chance thundershowers, Hiuh In the upper 80s. Through Monday Worm, holuted titter noon and evening thornier -tho w-erv Hiuh upper 80s to mid-VO, ow upper 0s mill-70.

fjelinis cue on oge 2A, ttrttl PhotoHylef Coopf Sprincjficldion Nor man "Red" Hindi still takes his swings at the oolf ball at aje 82. Minds was tho city aolf champion In 1928, Story on Paw 1C, senUbon were ton- dui ted at half hour Intervals. "We're doing pretty well tod-iy, considering last year we wer rained out and hl to los down on the Fourth," llati her Mid I.ven so, the curly ninffiing rain and the hu nudity fuywd few dud tnoK he Mid After the liort explanation, rtw rt iiwideij in fiutiei of pufipiiwder with madding A similar foil ie (Dftfion Would Like 1 pound of riitimwder. Hie i rowd in i wity to enviHion the m'rnity of the tune lil.i.' Th ri. af'ef turning to finer i nl (i ir turn l.i Springfield Civil War buff Fleet Kerr doni his Civil War uniform on special oc tuch at the July 4tr holiday to fir hit cannon of Wilson'i Creek Nafionol Battlefield..