m NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LI. No, 45_NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 1949_Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
FAIRBANKS, f/P)—Stuart Sea
ton, director of the University ol
Alaska’s geophysical observatory,
left Wednesday by plane for
Washington, D. C., where he will
present two scientific papers be
fore the spring meeting of Ameri
can Geophysical Union.
The studies weld prepared by
Seaton in collaboration with mem
bers of the observatory staff.
FAIRBANKS, (/P)—After a tour
of Alaska cities, George Edgar
Vaughan, British Consul from
Seattle reported yesterday that
Chinaware and woolens are virtu
ally the only British-manufactured
goods on sale in the Territory
generally. He expects to return to
t Seattle Sunday.
DAMASCUS. Syria </P)—Hkaled
Azem Bey, deposed premier of
Syria, was released from custody
yesterday. He had been confined
since March 31, when the govern
ment of President Shukri Kuwat
ly was overthrown in a military
coup by Brig. Husni Zayim.
SEATTLE, f/P> — Stricken with
acute appendicitis, eight-year-old
Sharon Cowans was picked up
from the Seattle-bound Alaska
steamer Baranof yesterday and
flown to Seattle for hospitaliza
tion.
The plane picked up the girl in
the Straits of Georgia in British
Columbia water at 6 p.m.
The girl was traveling with her
mother.
PARIS (/P)—Henry Wallace has
sent his best wishes to the ‘'world
peace congress” organized by
French communist leaders, con
gress headquarters said today.
The congress quoted Wallace as
saying prior commitments would
prevent his attendance.
BUCHAREST. Romania, i/P> —
The government closed all private
foreign language and secretarial
school stoday, and ordered the
students to transfer to a school
controlled by the ministry of art
and information.
NEW YORK, (IP)—Major secur
ity and commodity exchanges
throughout the United States and
Canada were closed today, Good
Friday, April 15.
Banking institutions in most j
States were open as usual, and va-1
rious livestock markets operated, i
The New York stock and curb
exchanges and the Chicago board
of trade will operate as usual on ;
Saturday, April 16.
fc _
LONDON, (/P)—A U. S. embassy
spokesman termed “encouraging” j
yesterday a doctor’s report that
there had been no change in the
condition of Ambassador Lewis
Douglas’ left eye, injured last
week in a fishing accident.
Douglas is in a Southampton
eye hospital. The report was made
following an examination last
night by three specialists, includ
ing King George’s personal sur
geon-occulist.
IRVINE, Scotland, (IP)—A 300
ton ship loaded with carbide ex
International News
At A Glance —
Thursday. April 14. 1949
<By The Associated Press)
Nineteen high nazis, found guil
ty by an American court of help
ing Hitler’s horror program, were
sentenced in Nuernberg today to
jail terms ranging from four to 25
years.
Standing in the same room
where Hermann Goering and other
top nazi leaders were convicted
nearly three years ago, the 10 de
fendants heard themselves sen
tenced for crimes varying from
aggression to brutality and mur
der.
Gottlob Berger, lieutenant gen
eral in the notorious SS, or Elite
Guard, drew the heaviest term—
an aggregate of 25 years.
Best known of the 19, Baron
Ernst von Weitzsaecker, got seven
years. He is a former envoy to the
Vatican and former state secre
tary of the German foreign min
istry.
The defendants promptly ap
pealed to have the verdicts and
sentences set aside on grounds the
U. S. tribunals which tried them
lacked jurisdiction.
Such a motion has been made
and rejected after nearly every
one of the 12 big war crimes trials
held by American courts in
Nuernberg.
Each defendant will receive a
reduction of sentence equal to the
time he has spent in jail—about
four years.
Reading of the verdicts rang
down the curtain on the last of the
long series of war crimes by
American courts. In all, 1,558 per
sons have been convicted of war
crimes in the U. S. zone of Ger
many. Additional hundreds were
found guilty by the British,
French and Russians.
The United States stood ready
today to receive — and consider
jointly with Britain and France—
any proposal Russia might make
for lifting the Berlin blockade and
renewing four power talks on
Germany.
The western terms, as reaffirm
ed yesterday by secretary of state
Dean Acheson, are simply that the
Russians must lift the blockade
unconditionally prior to resump
tion of four power discussions on
Germany as a whole.
Acheson’s comment was prompt
ed by inquiry about a London dis
patch which said Russia recently
had offered to lift the blockade in
return for renewing four power
talks on Germany.
A compromise foreign aid bill
containing about everything asked
by the administration appeared
(Continued on Page Five)
ploded in Irvine harbor yesterday,
shaking towns for miles around.
No one was reported injured
but the crew of the ship, the
Christina Dawn, narrowly escaped
death, since they had been sched
uled to board her later in the day.
There was no damage in the
towns.
The harbor was closed to ship
ping for 24 hours because of the
possibility the gas might cause
other explosions.
Congress Roundup
Thursday, April 14. 1949
WASHINGTON, The House was
set today to approve a $7,576,886,
231 money bill to finance the vet
erans administration, the atomic
energy commission, selective ser
vice and 25 other agencies for an
other year.
Then it hoped to take a 10-day
Easter holiday. It has had a busy
week:
Predicted passage of the bill be
fore it today would push to well
beyond $24,000,000,000 — or over
$170 for every man, woman and
; child in the United States—the ap
propriations it has approved since
Monday.
By far the largest slice of this
was the $16,000,000,000 for the
army, navy and air force it shoved
, through Wednesday by a vote of
271 to 1. Only member to oppose
it was Rep. Marcantonio <ALP-N.
Y.>.
Remarkably frank comments on
the foreign situation and possible
developments highlighted debate
on the defense bill. For examples,
Rep. Cannon <D.-Mo.) said the re
cently signed Atlantic pact gave
the United States bases from
which to “pulverize every military
center in Russia” if necessary.
Pin money by comparison was
another money bill passed by the
House yesterday; a $595,890,000
emergency fund for veteran’s edu
, cation and employment benefits.
Those two were sent to the Sen
ate, which last night approved the
highly controversial $538,453,473
i deficiency bill to round out funds
for a number of agencies for the
year ending June 30. Much of the
Senate argument centered around
a $2,500,000 item for the Tennes
see Valley Authority <TVA) to
| start building a steam plant for
generating electricity.
Before the Senate takes up any
more appropriation measures, it
wants to debate the administra
tion’s multi-billion dollar housing
program.
As the measure was brought up
today, three Democratic Senators
backing the President’s civil rights
program promised Dixie lawmak
| ers they would not support any ef
fort to tack an anti-segregation
amendment to the House bill.
Senators Douglas (D.-Ill.) Hum
phrey (D.-Minn.) and Taylor (D.
Idaho) said they haven’t changed
their minds about civil rights, but
! they think (1) It should be hand
led as separate legislation and (2)
An anti-segregation rider on the
housing bill might kill that mea
sure.
Senators Bricker (R.-Ohio) and
(Continued on Page Four)
LADIES AID FOOD SALE
SATURDAY AT N. C. CO.
The Ladies Aid of the Federated
Church are holding their annual
food sale at the Northern Com
mercial Co., on Saturday. This
event has been held annually for
many years, so many in fact that
many people bring their food do
nations without solicitation by
the committee.
The sale is under the chairman
ship of Mrs. Andrew Nerland this
year and will start at ten o’clock
and continue until all food has
been sold.
Two Jet Planes
Thrilling Nomeites
The past few days the citizenry
of Nome has been catching fleet
ing glimpses of something flashing
across the sky over the city. There
have been scattered claims by a
few individuals that the flashing
was possibly more of the flying
saucers seen in many parts of the
States the past few years.
Informants from the Marks Air
Base near Nome tell us that the
excitement is caused by two F-80
“Shooting Star” jet fighter planes
which were flown in this week
from Anchorage. The two planes
have been flying around the area
testing for take-off and landing on
the MAF airport.
ALASKA AIRLINES TO GIVE
AWAY EASTER BASKET
Many of the children in the
community are looking forward
I with interest to the Easter Basket
at the Alaska Airlines, which will
go to the child whose name ic
drawn tomorrow.
The children from 2 to 8 years
old have been invited to register
at the Alaska Airlines if they wish
to participate in the treat.
Up to noon today, sixty-nine
children have signed their names
; in the Easter Rabbit’s book in the
Alaska Airlines office. At four
. o’clock Saturday afternoon these
, names will be put in a basket, and
the name of one of these children
will be drawn as the Easter Rab
bit’s choice to win the large bas
ket. There will be fifteen addi
tional small baskets drawn for
second choice, so all you children
who have your names in the book
be sure and be there, for if you
j are not there when your name is
i called out we will keep on draw
ing until someone who is there
gets the basket.
High School
To Present Play
“Bovs About Bobbette” is the
humorous, hilarious comedy to be
presented in three acts by the
Nome high school.
Bobbette, who is a fourteen year
i old girl, is very much of a tomboy
; and becomes very irked when her
I mother insists on having her in a
style show which the town’s soci
ety women sponsor. She is one ol
the star players on The Dirty
Dozen football team. Socko, a
husky lad is the captain of the
team and also comes first with
Bobbette Everything goes fine
[ with them until a certain Freida
Fish comes along’ and then things
really happen!
Be sure and attend this fine play
ast there are many surprises and
loads of laughter in store for you
throughout the whole play. It will
be presented at the High School,
Thursday, April 21, at 8 o’clock.
The capable girl scouts will take
care of any small children you
are unable to leave at home. They
will be in the upstairs assembly
room, and their charge for this
service is the nominal fee of 25c
per child.
Funeral services for Mrs. Joe
Amarok will be held in the St.
Joseph’s Catholic church at 9:00
a.m. on Monday.
Northwest Hit By
Its Strongest
Recorded ’Quake
EIGHT DEAD. DAMAGE MAY
REACH TEN MILLION
(By Gail Fowler)
SEATTLE, (JP) — The Paci f i c
Northwest yesterday counted 8
deaths and damage which may
reach $10,000,000 in the wake of
its worst recorded earthquake.
Governor Arthur B. Langlie of
Washington gave a “purely tenta
tive” damage figure for Wednees
day’s violent shock. He said the
final count may range between
two and ten million dollars.
This was based on reports to the
! governor from the Red Cross, the
i state patrol and other agencies.
I The earthquake, at 11:55 a.m.
I*PST> Wednesday, caused scores
of injuries.
| Frightened thousands fled shak
! mg buildings as the tremor hit
1 cities ranging from Vancouver and
Victoria, B. C., in the north to the
| Salem area of Oregon in the south.
Scientists rated the quake of
No. 8 intensity. No. 12 would mean
total destruction.
The extent of the damage may
not be known for days.
At least 75 buildings were par
tially or completely demolished in
Seattle. The loss for some single
buildings was placed at about $50,
000 and upward. Eight state build
i ings at Olympia. Washington’s
! capital, were damaged. A tvvo
| story, vacant brick building at Ta
coma collapsed completely.
I A shower of bricks from cor
nices and building facings caused
numerous injuries and damaged
automobiles in the streets,
i Chimneys toppled in many cit
: ;es and towns. Plate gla.-s shat
tered.
The quake dumped two small,
unoccupied houses on Fox Island,
near Tacoma, Wash., into Puget
Sound.
The Red Cross and state and
federal agencies stood by yester
day. ready to plunge in with aid.
A Red Cross official said yester
day not a single person had ap
plied in the Seattle area for aid
for injuries, but that Red Cross
i funds would be forthcoming to re
build homes damaged by the
quake, on a basis of individual
need.
Olympia was especially hard
hit. The old Capitol building and
the insurance building were the
most severely damaged, and were
ordered closed. Six other state
buildings were shaken and crack
ed, but they still stood.
Two of the quake dead were in
Olympia. Falling chimney bricks
killed Percival Bisson, a veneer
plant steamfitter. Mrs. C. W. West
died of a heart attack when the
quake shook her hotel.
Langlie’s assistants reported on
the condition of several state
buildings throughout the quake
area. Two dormitory buildings at
the boys training school at Che
halis. Wash., were damaged, and
boys were moved into three new
dormitories nearing completion.
Two boys were hurt. Seven een
men in the old soldier’s home at
(Continued on Page Seven)