Americana

P: Mrs. Jean Tilton, 21, a British war bride arriving on the S.S. Marine Jumper, got her first look at the American shoreline, saw Brooklyn and fainted.

P: A military court of nine Air Force officers used up 340 gallons of gasoline on a round-trip flight from San Antonio to Houston, where they convicted a sergeant of the theft of five gallons of gasoline.

P: For arousing 28 people to the danger of gas fumes in a Brooklyn apartment house, Sparky, a mongrel pup, and Mickey, a run-of-the-litter cat, received the John Haines "distinguished service" medals from the A.S.P.C.A.

P: A department store in Phoenix, Ariz. was swamped with orders for Antsy Pants --men's underwear shorts decorated in a bright print pattern of huge red ants. Said the store's advertisement: "He'll rant and dance with big red ants."

P: At the Roof Garden of the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, the sisters Delacorte --Consuelo, 19, Marianne, 18, and Victoria, 17--made a simultaneous debut under bowers of pink chrysanthemums and boughs of evergreens. Guests at the party --mostly collegians--drank more milk than champagne.

P: An air patrol of Army fighters, droning over Philadelphia, kept all aircraft from coming within a three-mile radius of the Municipal Stadium, where President Truman and 101,500 spectators watched the Army-Navy game (see SPORT) .

P: In Cleveland, Farmer Karl Olsen refused to cut down an 80-ft. elm which is holding up installation of a "blind" landing system at the city's airport. For his elm--and a house and six acres of property --Olsen wants $40,000.

P: Since 1940, the population of the U.S. has increased almost 10%, now stands at 144,708,000, according to a Census Bureau estimate. The overcrowded New York-New Jersey-Connecticut metropolitan area hit a record high of 13,580,000.

P: In Baltimore, one Lawrence Riemer, mild-mannered piano player, was convicted of manslaughter for strangling his wife, a former circus tattooed lady. "She asked me to marry her," he explained. "She was tattooed all over, but I figured I might as well. I was lonely. . . . Then I found out she was like a wild woman. . . ."

P: After brooding about Europe's plight, John Hawkins, 39, a Manhattan hansom cabbie, donned a surgeon's gown, led his horse, Sunshine, to the basement of a livery stable, stunned the animal with a hammer blow, and set about carving up the carcass. When Hawkins' project to send meat to Europe was interrupted by police, he explained: "With the coming of winter, I was convinced that thousands would die."

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