m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LII. No. 21 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1950_Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
SEATTLE, (JP)—Pan American
World Airways said today one of
its DC-4’s ploughed one wheel
through a snowbank at Juneau
airport yesterday morning on a
taxi run after landing.
) ' There was no damage or in
juries. The big plane, enroute
from Seattle, pulled in front of
the terminal building without dif
ficulty.
Airline officials said the plane’s
propellors blew up a dense cloud
of snow, giving the appearance j
that the incident was serious.
They said the DC-4 taxied too j
near the end of the runway be- j
fore making the turn back to the |
terminal.
—
* FAIRBANKS, i^P) — Governor
Gruening will be the principal
speaker at a Democratic Jackson
Day dinner here March 4.
SEATTLE, (/P)—Two Washing
ton department of fisheries biolo
gists will transfer to the Alaska
Territorial fisheries staff at Jun
eau soon director Alvin Anderson
said Saturday.
They are Robert R. Parker, 28,
assistant chief biologist, and Wal
ter Kirkness, 29, who has been as
signed to the Puget Sound sports
r salmon study.
Parker and Kirkness will work
with the Pacific marine fisheries
commission research program,
which seeks integration of man- j
agement practices and commer
cial regulations of ocean fish bj
»he States of Washington, Oregon
and California, Anderson said.
SAN FRANCISCO, (/P)—1Tasker I
L. Oddie, former governor and
United States Senator from Ne
vada whose political career in
that state spanned the first third
of the century, died at his home
here Friday night. He was 79.
Oddie suffered a heart attack
■ four weeks ago.
TAIPEI, Formosa, (/P)—Chinese
Nationalist naval authorities Sat
urday held the British freighter
Caduceus under arrest.
Reason for the ship’s detention !
was not disclosed. A possible rea
son is that she has traded with
Chinese communist ports in the
past but this could not be con- •
firmed here.
The Caduceus is being held at j
Kaohsiung on the southwestern,
coast of Formosa. It is better |
known as Takao, once a Japanese
naval base.
_i
MOSCOW, (JP) — Prime Minis
ter Stalin has announced he will
run for re-election to the Supreme
Soviet ^parliament) next month
in the Stalin district of Moscow.
Dozens of Soviet districts had
asked Stalin to be their candidate.
SEATTLE, (/P)—The air force
did a fast shuffle yesterday with
a helicopter being shipped to
Alaska for air search and rescue
work.
The aircraft was unloaded from
the Mount Whitney at 2 p.m. At
4 p.m. it was on its way north on
another ship, the King S. Woolsey.
Army transportation officials
said shipments of helicopters to
Twenty-Nine Die
In Train Wreck
On Long Island
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N. Y.,
(tf*)—A crowded Long Island rail
road commuter train sped through
a stop signal Friday night and rip- '
ped headon into antoher passen
ger train, killing 29 persons and
injuring 100. Many of the injured
were in critical condition.
It was metropolitan New York’s
worst railroad disaster, and the
worst in the nation in four years.
The accident occurred on a
makeshift siding where a tempor
ary “gauntlet” track was laid
peiding completion of a grade
crossing project. The gauntlet con
sists of double tracks placed so
close together only one train at a
time can pass over the roadbed.
Jacob Kiefer, 55, of Baldwin, N.
Y., motorman of the eastbound
train, was arrested and charged
with second degree manslaughter.
“He ran past the signal,” Nas
sau county district attorney Frank
Gulotta said.
Motorman T. W. Markin of the
westbound train was too dazed to
be questioned. He was sent home
suffering from shock.
The head cars of both electric
trains were torn apart by the col
lision, which occurred at 10:35
p.m. The forward car of the east
bound train, loaded with early
home-going theater crowds from
Manhattan, was sheared down
the middle. It toppled over, spew
ing mangled bodies and wreck
(Continued on Page Four)
Nome Natives
Will Entertain At
Fur Rendezvous
A group of ten natives of Nome
and King Island are leaving today
for Anchorage by chartered plane
to take part in the entertainment i
of the Fur Rendezvous. While |
there they will put on outdoor
dances which have been planned
in the baseball park so that peo
ple could get pictures.
The group have been busy
brushng up on some of their real
old ceremonials and getting their
costumes for them in order. In
cluded in the group are Thomas
Katinga, Frank Elannah, Bernard
Kizinguk, Carl Kotak, Eddie Oko
lik, Ursual Elannah, Theresa Ono
kozuk, Tony Pushruk, Sammy
Mogg and George Ahgupuk.
In addition to the entertain
ment they are putting on, the na
tives are taking an assortment of
their hand made craft which they
will exhibit.
George Ahgukuk will feature
his artistry with his beautiful pic
tures on deer skin; Theresa El
lanah and Theresa Onokozuk will
demonstrate the native ways of
fur sewing.
the northland are being expedit
ed. This helicopter will be deliv
ered to the 10th Air Rescue squad
ron unit stationed at Fort Rich
ardson near Anchorage.
WASHINGTON, {IP)—CIO tele
(Continued on Page Six)
Rep. Beltz Charges
Natives Were
Intimidated
ANCHORAGE, (£>>_'Territorial
Representative William E. Beltz
charged Saturday that Kobuk and
Sungnak natives have been threat
ened with loss of old age assist
ance and school aid funds if they
reject interior department plans
fo restablishment of a reservation.
The Second Division Repre
sentative wired the Anchorage
Times that he had learned of the
threat: after interviewing 11 old
age pensioners in the two villages.
“I found,” Beltz said, “that
these people and others were
made to understand if they didn’t
vote for the reservation they
would lose those funds.”
The residents of those two vi1
lages are scheduled to vote April
24 on the proposal by former in
terior secretary Julius Krug.
Earlier the week, interior sec
retary C iapman asked the Senate
interior committee to look into
charges that Eskimoes and Indi
ans had been intimidated. Com
mittee chairman Joseph O’Ma
honey (D.-Wyo.) said the commit
tee probably would act after con
feirinr with Delegate Bartlett of
Ala ska.
Beltz said h^ had made a per
sonal investigation of the s»*ua
h'**n in response to an appeal fr am
Charlie Sheldon, of Kobuk. He
quoted Sheldon as reporting the
threats weer made in a school
house meeting.
Industries dose:
Miners Insist “No
Contract No Work**
PITTSBURGH, (/P') — Striking
coal miners balked at working to
day, pushing their “no contract no
work” walkout into its seventh
week. They put the next step up
to the federal officials.
Come-to-work whistles blew in
vain throughout the coal field.
Thq government is reported de
bating action looking to a possible
contempt of coure charge against
the United Mine Workers for dis
obeying a federal court’s stop
strike order.
About 372,000 idle diggers in
more than a score of states are
defying both court and John L.
Lewis by refusing to work with
out a contract.
No UMW mines are operating
in Pennsylvania.
All pits in eastern Ohio failed
to reopen. Near Bellaire, about a
dozen diggers reported at one
time—but promptly turned and
went home.
Overnight crews which did not
show up for work in West Vir
ginia and Pennsylvania set the
nation pattern. Those states em
ploy more than half the nation’s
400,000 soft coal miners.
Another 8,600 UMW diggers
were idle in the Canton and Dan
ville, 111., area. Canton strikers
were receiving food which rolled
into town on a truck bearing this
(Continued on Page Three)
Foster Wants To
Know Who Intimi
dated Natives
JUNEAU, (/P)—Don C. Foster,
area director of the Alaska Native
Service wants to know what ANS
employee, if any, threatened na
tives at Shungnak and Kobuk
with loss of services and rights if
they fail to vote to live on reser
vations.
Foster said here Saturday night
he wants to know the name of any
employees guilty of the alleged in
timidation and also the names of
natives supposedly intimidated.
His request for information was
in reply to charges made by Ter- j
ritoriM Representative William
E. Beltz of Nome. Beltz charged;
last week that natives of the two
towns had been told they would
' lose pensions and school funds if
the reservation plan failed to pass.
The plan, suggested by the inte
rior department, is to be voted on
April 24 in the two towns. It al
ready has been rejected at Bar
row.
Foster said he talked with Belt/,
in Nome on Feb. 8 and “at no
time during our 30 minute talk
did he intimate in any way he had
any knowledge of any attempted
I intimidation os Eskimos by ANS
I employees.
I
foster sain Harvey Starling, an
! A NS employee recently had vis
ited Shungnak and Kobuk and
specifically told the people in a
general meeting that no matter
which way they voted services
would not be affected.
Foster pointed out that the serv
ice has no control over welfare
grants and aid to dependent chil
dren. That is under the Territorial
I department of public welfare, he
said. The Service does at times J
supplement Territory grants when
the welfare department has in-1
adequate funds and asks for help,
Foster added.
l>-.‘>6 Survivors
To Ai11 In Search
For INIissiii^ Five
VANCOUVER, B.C. (/P)_Three :
men who jumped blindly from a
blazing, ice-coated B-36 bomber;
last Monday night and were later
rescued, were back today to aid
in the search fof five of their
comrades.
The missing airmen are believ-1
ed somewhere on 5U-mile long j
Princess Rayol Island, a brushy, j
snow-covered stretch of land
along the northern British Colum
bia coast.
A full-scale ground search,
abetted by clearing weather, fail
ed to uncover any signs of the
men yesterday.
Twelve of the 17 men who par
achuted from the burning plane
have been rescued. None suffered
serious injury.
The three survivors who re
turned heer last night from Fort
Worth, Tex., were Capt. Harold
L. Barry, pilot of the ill-fated:
craft; Lt. Paul Gerhart, radar ob
server; and T/Sgt. Martin B. Ste
phens, a gunner.
Royal Canadian Air Force offi
(Continued on Page Two)
News of the World
At A Glance - - -
Saturday. February 18. 1950
<By The Associated Press)
American business man Robert
A. Vogeler today said in a Hun
garian court he was guilty of spy
ing and sabotage.
In the same Budapest court
where Josef Cardinal Mindszenty
and scores of others confessed
anti-state activities, Vogeler said
he wfas an American agent gath
ering information on Hungary’s
vital secrets.
“I used my business activities:
only as a cover for my espionage
work,” he said in a calm voice. ‘‘I
am sorry for the detrimental
deeds I committed against this
country and I ask for a mild sen
tence.”
Vogeler, an assistant vice-presi
dent and European representative
of the International Telephone
and Telegraph Co., was arrested
last November and held incom
municado.
In Vienna, his wife said, “My
husband is merely repeating from
memory a lot of lies that have
been pounded into him for the
last three months.”
Hungary denied him the serv
ices of an American lawyer to
conduct his defense. The U. S.
State Department said the Hun
garian government decided in ad
vance of the trial to convict the
American. A formal statement
raised the question w’hether he
had been “subjected to coercion
by intimidation, lack of food,
drugging or other forms of mis
treatment.”
In the grim court drama yester
day a British executive of the
company and two Hungarian na
tionals confessed to being accom
plices of Vogeler.
Vogeler said he had been in
structed by American Intelligence
to help atom physicists escape
from Hungary. He said he had
been ordered to dig up special in
formation on radar production,
rockets, uranium and oil deposits.
The British election campaign
roared into a climax. Conserva
tive leader Winston Churchill
again called for high level talks
between the West and Russia to
end an atomic arms race. He snap
ped back at foreign secretary Er
nest Bevin who charged the pro
posal of a metting with Russia
was only a political stunt.
“Why should it be wrong,”
Churchill asked his radio audi
ence, “for the British nation to
think about the supreme question
of life and death perhaps for the
whole world at a time when there
is a general election.”
Prime Minister Clemente Att
lee, whose Labor party predicts
victory on its program of planned
economy and full employment,
will answer Churchill in a na
tionwide broadcast tonight. The
election is next Thursday.
Monday. February 20. 1950
The trial of U. S. businessman
Robert A. Vogeler and six others
on spy charges in Hungary ended
today, with the prosecution de
manding “the most severe punish
ment.” Court was adjourned un
(Continued on Page Three)