m NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLIX. No. 82NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1947 PER COPY — 15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
- i
WASHINGTON, UP)—'The agri
culture department reported to
I day that the cotton acreage in cul
tivation on July 1 totaled 21,389,
000 acres, or 17.6 per cent more
than last year.
LAPORTE, Ind. O^P)—Ten mem
bers of the Desi Arnaz ocrhestra
were injured today as their char
tered bus sideswiped a truck eight
miles northeast of here. A young
woman traveling with the orches
tra also was injured. None was
hurt seriously.
Six of the injured were brought
to a hospital here and five were
taken to a Michigan City hospital.
Arnaz, Cuban band leader, was
not traveling with the orchestra.
LOS ANGELES,* (JP)—'The bat
tered, strangled body of a woman
identified as Mrs. Rosenda Mon
, dragon, 20, was found yesterday
almost in the shadows of the city
hall. A postal clerk found the
young Mexican’s body on North
Main street, where officers said it
apparently had been tossed from
a car.
DETROIT, (£>)—Chevrolet divi
sion of General Motors Corp. an
nounced today that its 500,000th
unit for 1947 had come from the
assembly lines yesterday. At the
close of yesterday’s production
Chevrolet’s 1947 output included
360,947 passenger cars and 140,
688 trucks.
Because of prolonged strike and
material shortages, Chevrolet did
not reach the half million mark
last year until mid-November.
BATAVIA, {&) — A delegation
I from the Indonesian Republican
government arrived here by plane
today carrying a one and one-half
page note to the Netherlands, the
contents of which were expected
to answer the question of whether
there will be peace or war in the
Indies.
. • I
Indonesian deputy prime min
ister A. K. Gani said the note ac
t cepted four of five Netherlands
demands and offered a counter
proposal on the fifth.
SEATTLE, (/P)—E. W. Hundley,
associated with the Alaska Trans
portation Co. for the past 12 years,
has been promoted to the office
of traffic manager, it was an
nounced yesterday. The promotion
was ordered by S. J. Swanson,
vice president and general man
ager, before he left for an air
trip to Alaska earlier this week.
Before taking over a desk posi
tion in 1940, Hundley earned a
master’s license for “any ocean,
any tonnage.” He also holds a pi
lot’s license for Alaskan waters.
YOKOHAMA (JP)—Lt. Seiichiro
former commander of a Fukuoka
war prison camp, today was sen
tenced by an eighth army commis
sion to serve eight years in prison
for brutality to prisoners.
Jaku Suyenaga, civilian doctor
at the camp, was sentenced to four
years.
4
I The White House is the oldest
public building in Washington.
Coal Agreement
Signed; No !
National Tie-Up
- i
WASHINGTON, (A>)_An agree-'
ment averting a nation-wide soft |
coal strike was signed Tuesday by j
John L. Lewis and a majority of|
the bituminous operators.
In announcing the signing, j
Lewis told a news conference that
it is “reasonable to assume” the
entire industry will accept the
agreement within a few days.
More than half of Lewis’ 400,000 !
united mine workers are covered ;
by agreements thus far signed by j
northern commercial operators, j
steel companies and mine owners j
in the west and midwest.
For the workers, it means the
highest pay in history and the
right to work when “willing and
able.”
For the public, it means higher
coal prices and possibly less coal
production under a shorter work
day provided in the contract.
The miners originally were
scheduled to return to the pits
early today at the end of a 10-day
vacation. But they stayed away
pending word from Lewis that
(Continued on Page Five)
Coal Production
Up As Miners
Return To W ork
PITTSBURGH, (/P)—Coal pro
duction spurted today with thou
sands of bituminous miners re
turning to the pits in northern
states.
Many other thousands remained
away from the mines, pending lo
cal meetings to ratify the new j
contract. Some states reported
high absenteeism also was holding
down production. In addition, a
large number of southern mines |
still were idle, since operators ac
counting for about 20 per cept of |
normal production still had not
reached agreement with the union j
on contract terms.
Pennsylvania counted about)
half its 100,000 miners on the job, |
while in Illinois, the united mine |
workers headquarters said 75 per
cent of its 23,000 members were
back at work. The Illinois, coal
operators association reported all
mines in the state were operating.
In Ohio, about 14,000 of 16,000
diggers in the eastern Ohio field
trooped back to work this morning
and the remainder was expected
to don helmets and caps before
nightfall.
Production was spotty in West
Virginia, normally the nation’s
largest producer. In the southern
part of the state, only six mines
owned by the U. S. Coal and Coke
Co. and employing 2,500 were
working. The return to work was
more general in the northern sec
tion. Over the state about 23,000
of 100,000 miners were working.
In Alabama, two of 10 steel
company-owned mines re-opened
today with the day shift. About
800 miners of 5,500 employed by
the U. S. Steel Corp. and Republic
Steel were back. All other pits
were idle.
Alaska “Broke”; j
Will Pay No
More Warrants
1
JUNEAU, (A*)—The Territorial'
treasurer Oscar Olson said today
Alaska is nearly “broke,” with the
bank balance to pay general gov
ernment operations down to about
$20,000.
He said he would decline to pay
.any more warrants until more
money is available. Most of the
Territory’s large tax revenues for
the year have already been col
lected.
After money for outstanding
warrants on special funds have
been deducted, the actual balance
stands at $962,315, Olson said.
Other outstanding warrants ac
count for $388,000 and earmarked
funds would take another $554,
000.
The Territorial board of admin
istration is expected to make a
statement within the next few
days.
“Flying Disc”
Proves To Be
Weather Balloon
FORT WORTH, Tex. (/P)—An ex
amination by the army revealed
last night that a mysterious object
found on a lonely New Mexico
ranch was a harmless high-alti
tude weather balloon — not a
grounded flying disc.
Excitement was high in disc
conscious Texas until Brig. Gen.
Roger M. Rhmey, commander of
the Eighth Air Forces with head
quarters here, cleared up the mys
tery.
The bundle of tinfoil, broken j
beams and rubber remnants of a j
balloon were sent here yesterdayj
by army air transport in the wake I
of reports that it was a flying disc.1
But the general said the ob
jects were the crushed remains of
a ray wind target used to deter
mine the direction and velocity
of winds at high altitudes.
Warrant officer Irving Newton,
forecaster at the army air forces
weather station here, said “We
use them because they go much
higher than the eye can see.”
The weather balloon was found
several days ago in a desolate sec
tion of New Mexico by a rancher,
W. W. Brazill. He said he didn’t
think much about it until he went
into Corona, N. M., last Saturday
and heard the flying disc reports.
He returned to his ranch, 85
miles northwest of Roswell, and
recovered the wreckage of the bal
loon, which he had placed under
some brush.
Brazill hurried back to Roswell,
where he reported his find to the
sheriff’s office.
The sheriff called the Roswell
air field and Maj. Jesse A. Mar
cell, 509th bomb group intelli
gence officer, was assigned to the
case.
Col. William H. Blanchard,
officer of the bomb group, report
ed the find to General Ramey and
the object was flown immediately
to the army air field here.
Even Russia May '
Accept French Bid
PARIS, (^P)—Indications mount
ed yesterday that at least some of
the nations within the Soviet or
bit would attend the Paris confer
ence on the Marshall aid-to-Eu
rope program, and a dispatch
from Prague quoted Czechoslovak
sources as suggesting Russia her
self might try to back into the
talks.
A Sofia dispatch quoted an au
thoritative source as saying “prob
ably Bulgaria will participate” in
the conference, which opens in
Paris Saturday. The dispatch said
the Bulgarian council of minis
ters was meeting to reach a deci
sion in the matter.
Depsite a Moscow radio report
that Yugoslavia had rejected the
British-French invitation to par
ticipate, observers in Belgrade
said the Yugoslavs still had not
replied, and probably would not
do so before Thursday—the dead
line for an answer.
WASHINGTON, (JP) —Assistant
I secretary of state Norman Armour
said today Russian participation
in the Paris conference on the
Marshall European aid plan is
much to be desired because the
more who join in, the better the
results will be.
Armour, holding his first news
conference since taking over as
diplomatic chief of the depart
ment, made one of the most com
prehensive comments on the Mar
shall plan since it was announced
by Secretary Marshall a month
ago.
He was asked for a statement of
(Continued on Page Four)
ROBERT LEDGERWOOD
BEATEN UP BY NATIVE
Robert Ledgerwood, aged 93,
pioneer resident, was badly beaten
last Monday evening by a drunk
en native at his home on Mettler
Way.
Mr. Ledgerwood who had re
tired for the evening was awak
ened by a knocking on the door
which he opene dto find a drunk
en native carrying an infant.
When he realized that the man
was drunk he attempted to close
the door again, but the native
forced it open, knocked the old
man down and while he was down
proceeded to kick him several
times.
Paul Dryden and Gordon Os
borne who happened to be in the
neighborhood at the time, hearing
the commotion, went to investi
gate aind turned the native over,
to the police.
The native is Edward Kimok
toak, a veteran, whose home is at
the mouth of the Koyuk River and
who is in Nome for* medical ex
amination. He is in the city jail
where he has been sentenced for
10 days and a $50.00 fine by the
city magistrate. He is reported to
have snatched the baby from his
wife and claims to remember
beating up Mr. Ledgerwood but
can 'give no reason as to why he
did it.
Mrs. Wm. Lehmann is caring for
the old man until he fully recov
ers from the shock.
Reward Posted
For A Live
“Flying Saucer”
<By The Associated Press*
America’s “flying saucer’ jag
reeled on yesterday. Stiff necks
and goggle eyes were the order of
the day. Sky watchers was a new
profession.
North Carolina joined the disc
parade.
For the first time the discs were
reported whirling through the at
mosphere over Asheville in west
ern, North Carolina and over
Greensboro and Raleigh in tae
north central portion.
As reports continued to pour in
from all over the nation tabulators
ran the tally of states in which
the saucers had been seen to 42.
Observers in the District of Co
lumbia and Canada also said they
had sighted the mysterious ob
jects.
The only states whose skies
were still clear of the discs were
Nevada, North Dakota, Mississip
pi, New Hampshire and Rhode Is
land.
Explanations. Take your choice:
They were radio controlled flying
missiles sent aloft by U. S. mili
tary scientists. Or they were mere
ly light reflected from wing tanks
of jet-propelled planes. Or — no
one knew for sure.
The World Inventors Congress
posted $1,000 for delivery of a fly
ing disc to the exposition which
opens in Los Angeles on July 11.
Could they be spotted by radar?
A spokesman for the army air
forces said in Washington that no
attempt had been made to spot
the spinning - flying - whirling -
stationary discs, because there
was not enough equipment to
blanket the nation.
Lt. Col. Harry W. Schaefer of
the Wisconsin civil air patrol an
nounced in Milwaukee his group
planned to conduct a series of
mass flights in hopes of learning
something aboqt the flying ob
jects.
Searching for an answer, Cas
par W. Ooms, the patent commis
sioner, said he did not think any
of the 3,000,000 patents on file in
his office held the explanation to
the saucers.
I
England Wants
More Lend-Lease
LONDON, (/P)—Parliament had
a hint from the government today,
only three days prior to the Paris
economic conference, that renew
al of United States lend-lease be
fore fall might be necessary to
save Britain from unproductive
poverty.
“We cannot indefinitely go on
importing what we cannot pay
for,” deputy prime minister Her
bert Morrison said last night in
House of Commons economic de
bate. To bring buying down to
ability to pay, he declared, Britain
would have to cut imports 25 per
cent and make “great adjust
ments” in production and stand
ard of living.
“The only remedy . . . he said,
(Continued on Page Eight)