™E NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. XLIX. No. 130 NOME, ALASKA. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29. 1947 PER COPY — 15c
NEWS IN BRIEF '
I
- *
BOSTON, i/P) — Samuel Crow
ther, 67, of Sunapee, N. H., na-1
^ tionally known author and econo
mist and collaborator with the late
Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone
in turning out several works, died ,
Monday at New England Baptist
hospital.
, • BERLIN, (.‘Pi — Gen. Lucius D.
Clay, U. S. military governor*said
yesterday he has asked the war
department for retirement during
1948.
His retirement, he told a news
^ conference, is an “event of quite a
few months away-’ and he would
continue in Germany as military
governor “for .a substantial time.”
Gen. Clay, who has spent 33
years in the army, said his retire
ment will be “full and complete
so that I can go catfishing in
Georgia."
WASHINGTON UP)—California
regained its position as the na
tion’s leading producer of gold
^ during 1946, with an output ol
35§,824 fine ounces, the bureau of
mines reported yesterday.
South Dakota and Alaska were
second and third with 312,247 and
226,781 ounces, respectively.
Fourth was Utah, the 1945 leader,
with 178,533 ounces compared
with 279,979 in 1945.
The bureau said 1946 domestic
*
gold mine production was 1,574,
505 ounces, 65 percent greater
A than 1945, but, except for the war
years 1943-44-45, the smallest
since 1885.
WASHINGTON, (/Pi—Gen. Al
exander A. Vandegrift, command
ant of the Marine Corps, announc
ed today he has asked to be re
tired from active duty Jan. 1,
1948.
He said in a statement he is
certain secretary of the navy Sul
livan will grant the request, made
by letter.
Vandegrift, the first four-star
general in the history of 172-year
old Marine Corps, was appointed
commandant on Jan. 1, 1944. He
said he has been considering re
tiring for the past year.
Vandegrift told a reporter that
he bought a house near Lynch
burg, Va., a year ago. He said he
would go there to live when he is
11 ^ placed on the inactive list.
ELIZABETH, N. J., (/P)—A 38
year-old Newark lawyer today
faced sentence for twice stealing
'^cigars from the stand of a blind
| man.
Harry Lieb of Newark, wept
* yesterday when a jury of eight
( women and four men fouftd him
. guilty. He testified that he forgot
to pay for the cigars through a
“gross mistake.”
Union county judge Walter L.
Hetfield released him in $50Q bail
pending sentencing in two weeks.
WRANGELL, (tf»)—A coroner’s
4£ jury decided yesterday that Frank
w Fitch, Canadian customs agent,
shot himself accidentally while
aboard, the river boat Hazel B 3.
9 Five companions reported that
■ Fitch went below deck alone. A
short time later a shot was heard
and he was found dead.
Top AFL Officials Attend Convention
These 10 men are top American Federation of Labor officials attending the annual convention
of the labor organization in San Francisco. Seated <left to right*: George Meany, President William
Green, William J. Hutcheson, John L. Lewis. Standing <left to right*: Charles J. MacGowan, David
Dubinsky, Joseph M. Weber, George M. Harrison, Herman Winter and Harry C. Bates.
U/P* Wirephoto'.
__ _ _____
Bartlett Attacks
Hydaburg Indian
Reservation
(By Charles D. Watkins)
! M/P) Special Washington Service*
WASHINGTON, I/P* —Bitterly
attacking a proposal to create an
Indian reservation at Hydaburg,
j Alaska, Delegate Bartlett of Alas
ka has informed interior secretary
Krug that some interior officials
who favor the reservation tried to
defeat legislation which Krug ap
1 proved.
A law to permit establishment
of newsprint mills in Alaska and
provide that some of the income
1 from the forests be held in the
treasury until Indian claims can
be finally settled was supported
by Krug but Bartlett says other
interior officials opposed it.
“I am fully aware,” Bartlett
wrote Krug, “that certain officials
of the department of interior
worked valiantly against your an
nounced support of the legisla
tion.” The Delegate did not name
the officials. He made the letter
public today.
The officials who op p o s e d
Krug's stand on the resolution au
thorizing the sale of timber to pa
per mills “are the kind of people
who are in favor of reservations
whether the Indian people and the
white people want them or not,”
Bartlett said.
Referring to the recent an
nouncement by the interior de
partment that Krug had proclaim
ed the reservation into existence—
which was later retracted by the
department as having been a mis
take—Bartlett said:
“To say that I was astonished
that the reservation proposal had
reached such a stage without con
sultation with interested individ
uals in Alaska or with the Alaska
Delegate in Congress is a gross un
(Continued on Page Eight)
Communists Kill
Many U. S. Soldiers
In Trieste
WASHINGTON i/P)—Rep. Mar
ion T. Bennett <R.-Mo.> declared
yesterday that “many” American
soldiers have been killed or
wounded by Communists in the
Trieste area behind a “brass cur
tain of American military censor
ship.”
The Missouri lawmaker, recent
ly returned from a six-week tour
of Europe and the Near East, said
there have been “63 incidents of
armed aggression by the com
munists” against United States
(Continued on Page Five>
U. S. To Strengthen
Military Forces
In Greece
WASHINGTON, I/P) — Govern
ment officials are considering an
increase in the American military
mission to Greece as a means of
helping the Greek army prepare
for a cleanup offensive against the
Communist guerrilla forces.
Authorities said the present
mission, totaling 40 officers and
men, now appears to be too small
to do an adequate job. The mis
sion’s assignment has been to help
the Greek forces assemble United
States equipment being furnished
them under the “Truman doc
trine” aid program and to train
the Greeks in the use of this
equipment.
These authorities flatly denied,
however, that there is any thought
now of sending American troops
to Greece or of having any Amer
ican officers participate in Greek
combat operations, as was report
ed from some European capitals
last week-end.
(Continued on Page Five)
Cub Planes l ake
Off From Tokyo;
Land At Shemya
TOKYO, i/P> — The globe circ
ling cub pilots, George Truman of
Los Angeles and Clifford Evans
of Washington, D. C., left Nemuro
for the Aleutians Tuesday night
on the most dangerous leg of their
trip.
Their goal was Shemya, about
1,500 miles away in the Aleutians.
The Far Eastern Air Force, tak-1
ing every precaution, dispatched
two flying forts, fully equipped
for rescue work, to accompany the
little Cubs on most of the flight to
Shemya, the longest lap of the j
globe circling journey.
Truman and Evans finally had
arrived at Nemuro earlier yester
day after a flight of a little more
than two hours from the U. S.
army’s Chitose air base on the
other side of Hokkaido. Favorable
winds cut their time for the trip
by nearly an hour from their es
timated schedule.
The filers had been delayed by
adverse weather in their short hop
jorney across Japan from south to
north.
They left the east coast of the ,
United States three months ago on '
their leisurely trip.
ADAK, (yp) — The treacherous
North Pacific crossing lay behind
globe-girdling pilots Cli f f o r d
Evans and George Truman and
their tiny planes today and the
long Aleutian island chain, the
“cradle of storm,” lay ahead.
The two former army fliers and
their 100-horsepower cub planes
landed at Shemya at 5:35 p.m.
(P.S.T.) last night after a flight of
13 hours, 28 minutes from Nemu
ro airfield, on northeastern Hok
kaido island, Japan. The distance
is about 1,500 miles. Shemya is 420
(Continued on Page Four)
Weather Hampers
Seareli For Lost
FA A Clipper
KETCHIKAN, (/P)—Plagued by
continuing bud weather, a stead
ily growing fleet of air and sur
face craft set out again yesterday
in search of a missing Pan Amer
ican Airways clipper—spurred by
new unconfirmed reports of
smoke and flares near the Alas
kan-British Columbia border.
As all earlier clues to the fate
of the four-engined DC-4 which
disappeared Sunday with 18 pas
sengers and crewmen aboard
proved unfruitful, the coast guard
announced receipt of reports of
smoke on Dundas Island, 55 miles
southeast of Ketchikan, and of
flares on Graham Island, just
south of the Alaska-British Co
lumbia border. Rescue ships were
assigned both areas.
The weather bureau forecast
continuing low visibility and same
rain, conditions which hampered
considerably Monday’s search of
higher mountain elevations along
the coast.
Shuttling plane pilots and sur
face vessels alike brought back a
discouragin'? “no clues” report af
ter beating a blanket path over
the 280-mile route from Ketchi
kan to Juneau and return.
Three coast guard vessels radi
oed they were unable to locate an
oil slick reportedly seen between
Annette and Mary Islands, west
of Ketchikan.
The ill-fated DC-4 airliner dis
appeared Sunday after radioing
the Annette airport at 1:44 p.m.
that “extreme turbulence” pre
vented a scheduled landing.
Much of the hope for the 13 pas
sengers and five crewmen aboard
was pinned on the 19 years’ Alas
kan flying experience of its cap
tain Alf. N. Monsen, known as one
of th Territory’s best bush pilots
before going with PAA in 1932.
The plane’s disappearance re
called another air tragedy which
occurred in the same area in 1943.
Harold Gillam. veteran Alaskan
pilot from Cordova, and five pas
sengers crashed aug. 5 on a moun
tain only 40 miles southeast of
Ketchikan while trying to land
at Annette Island during a storm.
Planes searched for days with
out a clue, gave up and coast
guard patrol goats continued the
search. More than a month later
two survivors were found on the
seashore near Boca de Quadra.
Two others were found subse
quently
JUNEAU, i/P)—Search for the
missing Pan American Airways
plane with 18 aboard has been
virtually abandoned in this north
ern sector of Southeastern Alaska,
with the hunt being concentrated
in the Ketchikan-Annette Island
region.
Six Alaska Coastal Airlines
planes with observers aboard
Monday scanned every section of
this northern area where planes
were reported to have been heard
Sunday afternoon.
Rumors of flares and floating
objects proved fruitless.
The planes returned to their
(Continued on Page Five)