ill NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS__
VOL. LI. No” 9 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 1949 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
•
SEATTLE, UP), Charles W. Ask,
92, Seattle pioneer and retired
Alaska merchant, died Sunday af
ter a long illess. Born in Norway,
he came to the United States 75
years ago and to Seattle in 1888.
He operated a general store for 30
years in Skagway, Alaska, return
ing to Seattle in 1924, when he re
tired.
His widow, Emily; two sons,
Karl and Harry, and a daughter
Mrs. Norman Mackay, survive.
SINGAPORE, </P)—A band of
men believed to be communists
ambushed a truck loaded with 13
members of a security registration
team Wednesday night and killed
12 of them, including four British
soldiers. The ambush occurred a
few miles from Kuala Lumpur on
the Kuala Lumpur-Bentong high
* way.
NEW YORK, (jP)—A television
audience of 10,000,000 persons in
the east and midwest was estim
ated for yesterday’s Presidential
inauguration.
Many more millions throughout
the nation and in other countries
were linked to the Washington
scene by radio.
Yesterday was the first time the
Presidential inauguration has been
televised.
* SITKA, (JP)—George Paul Jones
brought here by plane Sunday af
ter a reported scuffle aboard the
Seattle motor tug “Acme.” was be
ing treated at Mt. Edgecumbe hos
pital.
Harold Hofstad, skipper of the
tug, said in Petersburg Jones was
overpowered atfer a scuffle in
which one man was thrown over
bboard but later rescued. There was
no explanation for the scuffle.
Jones joined the ship at Sitka.
No charges have been filed here in
connection with the case.
________
WILMINGTON, N. C. (/P) — A
four-hour general alarm fire raged
through the Orton hotel early to
day, routed 40 guests, and spread ■
to six adjoining buildings with a ,
v loss estimated at about $1,000,000.;
J. R. Mallard,t70, of Charlotte,)
N. C., was missing. He came here
^ to visit a sick brother.
—
SAN FRANCISCO, </P) — The
Chinese communist radio today de- ;
scribed the Nanking government’s
proposal for an immediate truce j
and peace negotiations as “utter
ly unreasonable and hypocriticl” i
and then suddenly switched to an- !
.other subject.
^ The broadcast was heard in San
Francisco by the Associated Press
listening post.
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (/P) — The
biggest land plane ever built, de
signed to carry 400 troops, is
scheduled to make final test
flights today. The big XC-99, of
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft corp.,
finished power runs yesterday on
its new 10-wheel landing gear.
CORDOVA, (/P) — Barbara S.
Bate and Franklin T. Opperman
*were married here last Saturday
evening, with the Rev. M. L. Wan
ner receiving their vows.
The bride flew her# from Hono
Americans Honor j
Truman On His
•4Great Day”
WASHINGTON, (/P>—Harry S..
Truman'took on leadership of the j
nation for four years yesterday,
with a pledge to strive for world- j
wide "peace, plenty and freedom.”
In a fighting inaugural speech,
he branded communism the chief
threat to those aims and the
breeder of war.
It was the climactic moment ol
inauguration day for the 64-year
old, one-time Missouri bred boy
who, over all odds, had won a
White House term in his own
right.
He accepted that term by plac
ing his left hand on Bibles opened
o the Beatitudes and the Ten
Commandments, raised his right
hand to God, and swore to serve
'Continued on Page Seven)
RCAF Plane Lost
On Mercy Flight
WINNIPEG, Man. (JP)—A Royal
Canadian Air Force plane return
ing from a mercy flight to the
Arctic was forced down today,
perhaps in Hudson Bay, air force
officials here reported.
The plane was carrying 10 men,
including a sick radio operator
| and a hospital-bound Eskimo, to
Churchill from Coral Harbor, on
Southampton Island. A doctor also
was aboard and a crew of ^even.
Last word from the plane, early
this morning, was that it was
“over ice.” The air force immedi
ately dispatched planes for a
search. The operation was compli
cated by the fact that messages
from the downed plane seemed to
indicate it was off course and
heading for Port Harrison on the
eastern shore of Hudson Bay.
Churchill is on the western shore.
Car Plunges Into
Ocean; 4 Drown j
—
CORDOVA, (jP)—Four persons!
drowned last night when a car |
plunged from the dock into 30 j
feet of icy water.
They were Mrs. Genevieve I
Means, L. E. (Bud) Townsend of
Seattle, Mrs. Phyllis Davis and
her small daughter, Perry Lynn i
Davis.
Brakes on the machine appar
ently failed to hold as the car ap
proached the steamship Alaska,
which Townsend was to board. He
was a salesman for H. J. Heinz
and Co.
Two fishermen Otto Tiedeman
and Fred Johnson, worked for two
hours in a skiff with grappling
hooks to recover the car and the
four bodies. The steamer delayed
(Continued on Page Four)
lulu late in Decmber for a three
week visit with Mr. and Mrs.
Hugh Operman, old friends who
once resided in the islands. Oper
man’s brother, Franklin, convinc
ed her to become an Alaska resi
dent at once instead of waiting for
their wedding planned later in the
year.
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU j
(By James Hulcheson)
(Friday, January 21, 1949)
JUNEAU, i/P>—The income tax
measure was the first order of
business on the Senate calendar
today. •
Two key Senators — Howard
Lyng, Nome Democrat, and Gun
nard Engebreth, Anchorage He
BULLETIN!
* (Special to The Nugget)
The Senate passed the income
tax bill thirteen to three this
morning after only fifteen min
utes discussion of long controvert
ed measure. The only votes against
i the bill were Republican Senators
Collins, Jones and Munz. The bill
must go back to the House for ac
quiescence in minor amendments.
I
publican who is slated for the
i presidency at the regular session
! opening Monday — predicted it
| would be enacted today.
An effort to suspend the rules
and push the measure through
2nd BULLETIN
(Special to The Nugget)
JUNEAU. </P) — Stamped with
Senate and House approval the in
come tax bill headed for the Gov
ernor's desk this afternoon for
speedy enactment into law. The
Senate passed the bill thirteen to
three with hardly a ripple of de
bate. The bill was rushed back
down the corridor to the House
which completed legislative action
by concurring in minor amend
ments.
Governor Greuning beamed in
the corridor and congratulating
legislators, said he would sign it
promptly after it reaches him in
final enrolled form.
yesterday fell one vote short of
the necessary two-thirds.
One other tax measure failed
and a third moved out of commit
tee with a favorable recommenda
Continued on Page Three
Property Tax Bill
Reaches Senate
After Much Dehate
♦_
(Thursday, January 20, 1949)
(By James Hutcheson)
JUNEAU, </P)—A one per cent
property tax bill went to the Alas
ka Senate yesterday, but a Demo
cratic House leader said it un
doubtedly would die there in the
closing days of the special session.<
The measure, approved Wednes
day by the House 21 to 3, carried j
a $2,500 personal property exemp- j
tion provision.
The House leader who express-1
ed pessimism over the bill’s j
chances in the Senate was Warren |
Taylor of Fairbanks. He said that i
even though it is pigeon-holed,
there “this Democartic House has
(Continued on Page Three*
Truman Blasts At
Communism In
Inaugural Speech
(By John M. Hightower)
WASHINGTON, (/P)—President
Truman yesterday pledged a glob
al crusade for “peace, plenty and
freedom” in a blistering inaugural
speech denouncing the “false phi
losophy” of communism and war.
The Chief Executive keyed his i
address to the quickening struggle
between the democratic west and
the communist east.
While he cautioned that Amer
I ica’s material resources are limit
ed, Mr. Truman promised to draw
deeply on the “inexhaustible” re
sources of this country’s technical
know-how to help free peoples
everywhere.
Communism “holds that war is
inevitable,” Mr. Truman told
massed thousands in the Capitol
plaza immediately after taking his
oath of office for a four-year term.
And even now, he said, it is en
dangering attempts to keep world
peace.
But he declared that as a result
of American efforts “hundreds of
millions of people all over the
world now agree with us that we
need not have war.”
These efforts must now be ex
panded. he said, to include a gi
gantic “bold new program” of for
eign economic development, aim
(Continued on Page Five)
Internation’l News
At A Glance —
(Thursday. January 20. 1949)
<By The Associated Press>
The Chinese governing party,
the Kuomintang, threw its weight
today behind the cabinet’s efforts
to make peace with the victory
flushed communists.
A separate peace deal was on in
Peiping for the surrender of that j
great city and the rest of North
China to the Reds. In the field of
battle, the massse of Chiang Kai
Shek had been beaten about ev
erywhere they had met the com
munists. The nationalist position
in North China semede hopeless, j
The communists kept silent. So
did Chiang, whose approval is
needed unless he is ousted or un
less he resigns.
Armistice talks between Israel
on one hand and Egypt and Leb
anon on the other reached a decis
ive stage. A Tel Aviv informant
said the draft of peace terms with
Lebanon was made at a border
village. A compromise settlement
for the borders of the Negev des
ert in southern Palestine was be
fore Egyptian and Jewish negotia
tors at Rhodes. ,
The U. S. loan of $100,000,000 to
Israel appeared to presage full
recognition soon of the new Jew
ish state.
Premier Nehru of India de
nounced before a 20-nation con
ference in New Delhi the Dutch
action against the Indonesian re
public. He called it a “challange
to newly awakened Asia.** Nehru
said “Asia will no longer brook
(Continued on Page Three)
Six Dead In Crash
Of Alaska Airlines
Plane Near Homer
SEATTLE, </P>—'The CAA re
ported today that an Alaska Air
lines DC-3 apparently crash-land
ed in rugged country 30 miles
northeast of Homer, Alaska.
The report, which came from
the CAA’s Anchorage office, said
the plane, which disappeared last
night on a flight from Homer to
Kenai, had been sighted on the
slope of a hill. The location is on
the Kenai peninsula, northeast of
Kodiak Island.
The CAA said the plane was
scheduled to stop at Kenai, but
passed up the landing there to go
on to Elmendorf Field, Anchorage.
ANCHORAGE, bPi — Searchers
reached the crashed Alaska Air
1 lines plane on the Kenai peninsula
and found the six occupants dead.
It had hit a hillside.
The line announced the crew
members were Capt. R. D. Land,
Anchorage; co-pilot Robert S'e
—.
BULLETIN
" i
(Special to The Nugget)
ANCHORAGE. (/P) — Searchers
said there were indications "of
life aboard" the Alaska Airlines
DC-3 transport which crashed into
a hillside on Kenai Peninsula last
night with six aboard. The An
chorage office of the airline which
gave the report after the first re
port from the ground party had
said all were dead. There was no
indication of who or how many
might be alive. It is reported the
searchers have cut into the fuse
lage.
vens; stewardess Christina Nims.
The passengers were Mr. Poumi
rau, Homer; Roscoe Spears, Nak
nek; Stanley Hillman, U. S. wea
ther bureau man. Anchorage.
The air force tenth rescue
squadron B-17 assisted by Alasxa
Airlines pilot William Lund, sight
ed the plane at 2:20 a.m., Anchor
age time. Air searchers reported
the wing and tail surfaces w*»re
the only parts visibly intact on the
plane. It was due at Anchorage
at 8:50 p.m. last night.
Property Tax
Will Not Injure
Pulp Industry
KETCHIKAN, (JP)—'The Ketchi
kan Chronicle published yesterday
an article replying to statements
by a Seattle chamber of commerce
official about the effect of the pro
posed Alaska tax program on the
pulp industry in the Territory.
“No prohibitive tax program
faces the pulp industry in Alaska,”
the Chronicle asserted.
In a letter to Alaska chambers
of commerce, John H. Perry, Alas
ka chairman of the Seattle C. of C.
said he understood proposed laws
would tax pulp at the rate of $8
a ton and create an annual proper
(Continued on Page Five)