Died. Herbert ("The Cat") Noble, 42, much publicized Texas gambler; in a landmine explosion near his mailbox; in Dallas (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).

Died. Harry Hervey, 50, explorer, author (The Damned Don't Cry, The Veiled, Fountain) and screen writer (Shanghai Express, Road to Singapore), who, at 16, sold his first story to H. L. Mencken's Smart Set, produced a popular novel every year between 1923 and 1933; of cancer; in Manhattan.

Died. Stephen T. (for Tyree) Early, 61, White House press secretary for Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, later vice president of Pullman Inc.; of a heart attack; in Washington, D.C. A onetime Associated Press reporter, he first met Roosevelt while covering the Navy Department before World War I, became his advance man when F.D.R. campaigned unsuccessfully for the vice-presidency in 1920. In 1932, 24 hours after he was elected to the White House, Roosevelt telephoned to his old friend, asked him to take the job of press secretary, which Early accepted on a two-year basis, held for 13, becoming one of the early New Deal's most influential behind-the-scene advisers. After Roosevelt's death (which Early announced to Mrs. Roosevelt), he stayed on for three months with Harry Truman, then resigned to take his $25,000-a-year Pullman job, appeared only twice again on the public scene: once on a two-month fill-in at his old White House job, once as Under Secretary to his old friend, Defense Secretary Louis Johnson.

Died. Ella Reeve Ware Cohen Omholt ("Mother Bloor"), 88, patron saint of the U.S. Communist Party; of a cerebral hemorrhage; in Richlandtown, Pa. (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).

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