England's King George VI dies.
The king who didn't want to rule was laid low by a blood clot on February 6, 1952. The Associated Press story from London points out George is the youngest king to die since the early 18th Century. The art is of the King in his uniform as Admiral of the British Fleet. Elizabeth became the first queen to ascend to the throne since Victoria.
The other big story of the day was a former Polish soldier -- masked for his family's protection -- who testified before Congress about World War II's Katyn Massacre. Some 10,000 Polish soldiers were killed there, with the Germans and Russians blaming one another. This witness said he saw 200 Pols killed, some buried alive, by Soviet troops.
At the bottom of the page is Mrs. Robert Vogeler, who's husband was a two-year political prisoner of Communist Hungary, says the Europeans think the U.S. is a nation of appeasers. Which is good in a way, at least they'd learned the word after the Nazis and Hitler and all that.
Locally a check forgery ring had been broken. There was a school shooting to the east, a kid was shot in the head, but survived. The shooter was at large.
A former Lee County judge was missing by a riverbank, a loyalty oath for presidential electors was nixed by another local judge. A county commissioner was rumored to resign and there was a brief on Korean casualty reports.
There's also a cartoon on fuse boxes and burned down houses. Maybe it was funny.
Our favorite writer is back, as Vulcan discusses the local medical school and money needs, he plugs the art museum, and the local this and that at the bottom of the column shows just how small (558,000 in 1950) Birmingham was.
Also the skybox teases a page 11 story: What should we do with ex-presidents? Good question.