Word: ponts
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...Pont. In chemicals and mining, Union Carbide, Du Pont and National Gypsum all reported banner sales and earnings. At Union Carbide, President Morse G. Dial listed alltime record sales of $857 million, record earnings of $101 million for the first nine months, 60% higher than 1954. Du Pont hit new peaks with sales of $1.4 billion, earnings of $6.24 a share at the three-quarter mark v. $4.74 last year. In the booming electronics industry, civilian sales were so good that General Electric President Ralph J. Cordiner could announce the second-best year in history thus far-sales...
...very first rounds of Pont-l'Evéque prison, Warden Billa found a kindred spirit in René Grainville, a forger and car thief. "You know," René told him, "I'm only here because of wild oats sown in my youth. I'm really a poet, and I've written several novels." Billa was fascinated. "You," Billa said at last, "are obviously misplaced. I appoint you prison accountant...
...prisoners pent behind the grim stone walls of the old prison in the little Normandy town of Pont-l'Evéque were an unimaginative crew-mostly drunks, chicken thieves, wife-beaters and petty racketeers-and their prison life was as dreary as their crimes. Then, on a certain hot afternoon in July, a new warden took over. Pert as a pouter pigeon, rotund little Fernand Billa was a jailer less interested in penology than in poetry and strong pastis (a variant of absinthe). With plenty of verses and good drink to hand, Billa could find even a prison...
From then on, life within the walls of Pont-l'Evéque underwent a subtle change. With Convicts Grainville and Manguy in virtually complete charge, the new chief warden found plenty of time to enjoy his poetry and his pastis. The prisoners got keys to their cells and were permitted to move about at will. Unexplained guests came and went. Rude prison fare was augmented with Epicurean delicacies. Many prison inmates began to take their breakfast in bed, and often, at the dinner hour, they wandered out for an apéritif in the village...
Only Words. Like all good things, however, the happy life at Pont-l'Evéque was eventually soured by those who took too great advantage of it. The principal serpent in Warden Billa's paradise was an ardent, free-lancing lover who sent so many uncensored love letters that authorities took notice. An investigation followed, and the carefree warden was arrested along with eight of his prisoners...