OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—ME1.13ER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LIII No. 149 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1951 Per Copy—15<t
Fifty-six Persons Die In Flaming Crash
Airliner Near Center Of Elizabeth, N.J.
ELIZABETH, N. J., (/P) — A4
flaming Florida-bound airliner—
its pilot battling it to the end—
missed a midtown crash by yards
yesterday, then smashed into a
river bank fringed with buildings.
All 56 persons aboard perished.
The 56th and last broken,
charred body was dragged from
the nose of the smashed plane
this morning. Rescue workei's
halted operations after midnight
and resumed when daylight came.
But onlookers called it a mir
acle that hundreds didn’t die as
the two-engined plane rattled
windows and shook the very
earth in its death plunge. Terri
fied, screaming children fled its
path.
It crashed in the only fairly
open space for a mile around.
Even then it clipped a vacant
home and smashed an unused
water pumping station, slightly
injuring one man.
‘T kind of think he hit the
spot intentionally to save us,” a
resident said of the pilot, Albert
(Continued on Page Two)
MacArthur Calls
For Civil Control
Over Military
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Gen.
Douglas MacArthur, an old pro
fessional soldier, cautions that
civilian control over the military
should be strengthened to prevent
“freedom’s destruction.”
MacArthur, writing in the Am
erican Legion magazine, particu
larly mentioned Universal Mili
tary Training as a program over
which civilian direction should be
paramount.
Congress already has laid the
groundwork for UMT. Further
legislation needed to put it into
effect is scheduled to come before
the lawmakers early next year.
Policy control of the training
would be under the direction of
a five-man commission, three of
whom must be civilians.
MacArthur said the program
for expansion of the armed forces
and UMT, “while intended and
designed to strengthen freedom’s
defense, carries within itself the
very' germs of freedom’s destruc
tion.”
City Councilwoman
Terms Anchorage
“Least Giving” City
ANCHORAGE, (JP) — The An
chorage City Council has voted to
drop a $3,070 item for the Terri
torial Welfare Department from
the city’s 1952 budget.
The vote was 5 to 1 after a hot
debate at the weekly session.
The majority members argued
that city taxpayers already pay
territorial taxes for the support
of the Welfare Department and
should not have to ante again
via the city.
Mrs. Margot Hoppin, the lone
council member for the appropri
ation, got hoppin’ mad and told
the council majority:
“This is the least ‘giving’ city
I have ever seen. There is a great
deal of personal charity, but none
by the city.”
Allied Prisoners
May Spend Lives
In Slave Camps
MUNSAN, Korea, UP) — Truce
negotiators haggled over prison
er exchange and armistice super
vision again today. A United Na
tions spokesman said results were
“absolutely negative.”
Only 10 days remain before the
provisional cease-fire line across
Korea expires.
Brig. Gen. William P. Nuchols,
U. N. spokesman, said 'the Reds
have not asked for an extension
beyond the Dec. 27 deadline.
Neither have the Allies.
Under the terms of the agree
ment a provisional 145-mile
cease-fire line across Korea
would become the center of a
2Vz mile wide buffer zone if an
armistice were signed by Dec. 27.
An Allied radio 'broadcast from
Tokyo Monday night declared ac
ceptance of Red demands for
blanket exchange of war prison
ers might sentence some Allied
soldiers “to life in communist
slave labor camps.”
The “Voice of the United Na
tions Command” said the Reds
have released a few Allied pri
soners at the front as a propa
ganda move, but only after they
have been put through a com
munist indoctrination course.
Walter Wanger
To Be Prosecuted
Felonious Assault
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., (/P)—
The district attorney says he will
prosecute movie producer Walter
Wanger for felonious assault, de
spite any efforts that may be
made to prevent him being tried
for shooting the agent of his act
ress wife, Joan Bennett.
Prosecutor S. Ernest Roll, tak
ing cognizance of reports that the
agent, Jennings Lang, might de
cline to actively prosecute Wan
ger, issued this statement:
“If the police sign a complaint,
and Chief Clinton Anderson says
he will, this office will prosecute
the case regardless of the desires
of the participants.”
Lang, shot in the groin, was
progressing satisfactorily in a hos
pital. He underwent surgery
Thursday night, a few hours after
he was shot while he talked to
Miss Bennett in a parking lot.
Shortly after his arrest, Wan
ger blamed Lang for what he said
was a change in Miss Bennett’s
attitude toward him, and Chief
Anderson quoted the producer: “I
shot Lang because he broke up
my home.”
- - . ■ - --
James J. Connors, 73,
Former Collector Of
Customs, Dies In Seattle
SEATTLE, (JP) — James J.
Connors, 73, former collector of
customs for Alaska, died at a
Seattle rest home Sunday. He was
a former mayor of Juneau and
aslo lived in Nome and Candle
during a half century in Alaska.
Ground and Flight Service
Employees Stage Walkout
On Pan American Airways
NEW YORK, (£>)—-Pan Ameri
can World Airways reported to
day its operations were 91 per
cent normal despite a sudden
strike of CIO ground and flight
service employes over wage de
mands.
Pilots are not involved in the
strike. Supervisory personnel
have taken over the struck ground
and steward posts.
Officials of the CIO Transport
Workers Union originally set the
strike for 12:01 a.m. today, but
the walkout started suddenly at
that hour yesterday.
The union was demanding a
$40 a month increase for flight
stewards and pursers, an 18-cent
an-hour increase for port stew
ards and mechanics and a reduc
tion in work hours for flight ser
vice personnel. Present wage
rates and hours were not avail
able.
Alaska Schedules Kept
SEATTLE, (/P)—Pan American
World Airways reported all three
of its scheduled flights tor Alaska
were made from here today de
spite the Transport Workers’
Union strike.
They were at 12:15 a.m., 7 a.m.
and mid - morning. There are a
few pickets at Boeing Field. Sup
ervisory employes filled out the
gaps in the ground and flight
crews.
FBI Arrests Two In
Anchorage For Stateside
Grand Larceny of Tires
ANCHORAGE, (iP)—Two long
shoremen were arrested here Fri
day by FBI agents on charges of
stealing $11,000 worth of tires
from Gardner-Reynolds, Inc., of
Los Angeles, last February.
John Williams, FBI agent in
charge, identified the pair as Wal
ter Lee Gibbs, 23, and Alex
Moore, 40. U. S. Commissioner
Rose Walsh set their bail at $2,000
each.
The theft charge alleges that
Gibbs and Moore rented a truck
in Oakland and drove it to Los
Angeles where they broke into
the Gardner-Reynolds plant. Lo’s
Angeles authorities subsequently
recovered $8,400 worth of the
loot.
The men are being held in the
Federal jail here.
Dependents Must Wait
One Year For Housing
In Alaska Govt. Units
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Armed
forces dependents planning to
join husbands or fathers serving
in Alaska must wait one year for
government housing, the armed
forces reported today. Four
months is the average wait for
civilian housing, the report said.
The survey showed this com
pared with a unit of 2 to 12
months for dependents going to
Germany; 6 to 12 months to Aus
tria; 10 weeks to Paris; 100 days
to England; 19 months to Okin
awa, and 15 months to Japan.
The armed forces estimated
6700 dependents embark each
month from the United States for
military posts around the world.
Judge Thomas F. Murphy Appointed
To Sweep Wrongdoers Out of Govt.
__
1
Declares State
Dept. Not Backing
Up Eisenhower
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Senator
Young (R-ND) said today the
Western European defense pro
gram is lagging and possibility of
failure “isn’t going to do General
Eisenhower any good politically.”
Predicting that Senator Taft |
will be the 1952 Republican presi
dential nominee, Young said he
thinks Gen. Dwight D. Eisen
hower is going to be held partly
responsible for Western Europe’s
reported slow response to rearm
ing efforts.
Young said the longer Eisen
hower waits to make his inten
tions known, the stronger Taft’s
bid for the nomination will grow.
“I don’t blame Eisenhower for
what is happening in Europe,”
Young told reporters. “He is doing
a good job. It is the State De
partment that is falling down.”
Young, back from a European
trip, criticized the French, Ital
ians and British for what he
termed their failure to cooperate
fully in the military aid program.
He said Yugoslavia demonstrated
more will to fight and more ap
preciation of American aid than
any other country he visited.
Cold Wave Claims
121 Lives In 4 Days
(By the Associated Press*
The ccrld wave which has taken
at least 121 lives in the last four
days drove the mercury to new
seasonal record lows in the east
today.
Sub-zero minimum tempera
tures were reported in the north
ern states from the Rocky Moun
tains to New England. There were
scattered below zero readings in
the Appalachian Mountains.
Some moderation was reported
in the southeast after tempera
tures went as low as 5 above in
the North Carolina mountains
and 25 degrees on the seaboard in
South Carolina.
New Gas Turbine, 205
Pounds, Develops 175 HP
WASHINGTON, (IF) — A mid
get-sized gas turbine which puts
out 175 horsepower has been suc
cessfully used to power a heli
copter, the navy announced.
The engine has a basic weight
of 205 pounds, about half that of
conventional piston engines of
like power, and is smaller than a
household washing machine.
Boeing Aircraft Company has
produced the engines, designated
T-50, for experimental use in
trucks and naval craft. One was
installed in a K.-225 helicopter
built by Kaman Aircraft Corpor
ation of Windsor Locks, Conn.,
and test flights were completed
here last week, the Navy said.
In a gas turbine engine, gases
play against the blades of ta tur
bine linked to the shaft of the
helicopter’s rotor blades. Various
types and grades of fuel can be
used.
NEW YORK, UP) — Federal
Judge Thomas F. Murphy, an old
hand at investigations, has accep
ted an assignment from President
Truman to sweep wrongdoers out
of the federal government.
The jurist, who prosecuted the
government’s perjury case against
Alger Hiss, will direct a non
partisan commission designed to
take action against public offic
ials who betray their trusts.
Protections for honest office
holders also will be set up by the
commission.
Murphy, a Democrat, will be
given a free hand to direct the
job as he sees fit. He will be re
sponsible only to the chief exec
utive.
In Washington, reports per
sisted that FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover would play a key role,
along with Murphy.
Mr. Truman told reporters that
Hoover would continue in his
present job as “this country’s
chief law enforcement officer/'
thus strengthening expectations
that the FBI itself, in collabora
tion with other agencies, would
have a great deal to do with
whatever investigation is con
ducted.
Britain Eases
Buying and Selling
Of Foreign Monies
LONDON, (jP) — Britain eased
her iron-handed control over the
buying and selling of foreign
monies Saturday with the aim of
restoring world confidence in her
own weakened currency.
The Bank of England author
ized private individuals to trade
British pounds for foreign money
— including the dollar — subject
only to a government limitation
on the prices.
For 12 years the bank itself
has handled all dealings in other
currency — always at the official
exchange rates.
The action which relaxes blit
does not end exchange control re
strictions, was regarded as a small
first step by Britain to let the
Pound find its real value on the
money markets of the world.
The official dollar value of the
British pound remains at $2.80
and the official price of gold re
mains pegged at $35 per fine
ounce.
Dealers buying or selling for
eign monies for immediate use
will be able to swing their prices
anywhere between $2.77 and
$2.83—getting the best price they
can.
Britain To Begin Paying
Off Her Post-War Debts
LONDON, (/P) — Britain an
nounced Saturday she will 'begin
paying off both interest and prin
cipal of her multi-million dollar
post-war American and Canadian
loans on Dec. 31.
A treasury announcement said
the government had decided not
to take advantage of its right to
postpone payment of the interest
on both 1945 loans.