i
™S NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. L. No. 154 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1948 PER COPY—15c
• — ■ .. —==
NEWS IN BRIEF
WASHINGTON </P>, The United
States proposed today that Bri
tain, France, Russia and this coun
try resume negotiations for an
Austrian peace treaty about Feb.
7 in London.
The proposal was made by Sam
uel Reber, a state department offi
cial who is chairman of the depu
ty group of the Big Four foreign
^ ministers council which handles
all work on the Austrian pact.
LONDON, The 460,1)00 workers
on Britain’s socialized railways
threatened yesterday to strike for
$2.50 more a week. Labor minis
ter George Isaacs has rejected the
demand. Union executives declar
ed a “state of dispute,” the first
step toward an official strike.
London bus and street car driv
ers voted to start Saturday after
noon strikes on Jan. 1 unless the
publicly owned transport system
pays them time and a half for
overtime.
KIMBERLY, Nev. (/P)—Cassius
I. Cook, 62, general manager of
the Consolidated Copper Mines,
Corp., of Kimberly, died Wednes
day. He had been in ill health for
several years. Death was attribut
ed to complications arising from
acute asthmatic condition.
He was formerly foreman for j
the Gramby Consolidated Mining
and Smelting Co., in Alaska and
British Columbia.
I
JUNEAU, (JP)—'The Territory’s
attorney general Wednesday de
scribed two tax bills being drawn
for the special legislative session
and declared the session will pay
dividends if it acts to straighten
out Alaska’s financial tangle.
* In a talk to the Kiwanis Club,
Atty. Gen. Ralph Rivers said the
two pending proposals are an in
come tax bill for withholding for
the Territory 10 per cent of the
amount paid the U. S. government
and a 2 per cent property tax.
WESTON, Mass. (£*)—An earth
quake of “moderate strength” was
wee
*
Internation 1 News
%
At A Glance —
Wednesday, December 22, 1948
(By The Associated Press)
Dutch troops captured the Indo
nesian Republic’s capital on Su
matra today and all but two of the
main cities in central Java in a
|
whirlwind campaign pressed de
spite scorched earth tactics.
President Chiang Kai-Shek gave
the go-ahead to Sun Fo’s cabinet
to make an “honorable peace”
with the communists who have all
; but crushed out the nationalist re
1 gime in the richest areas of China.
Communist armies moved tow
ard the Yangtze and Nanking. Chi
ang’s troops retreated south, ex
cept for the hundreds of thou
sands trapped. All north China,
and the area of east central China
north of the Yangtze appeared
doomed. Manchuria was lost dur
' ing the fall. Peiping and Tientsin
were besieged but held out.
Sun said there would be no sur
render to the communists. Ob
servers felt some sort of deal
might be offered the Reds. But
there was doubt whether the vic
torious communists would make
peace wit ha government headed
by Chiang.
Diplomats in London said an in
ternational control board of seven
nations will be set up soon to run
the industries of the German Ruhr.
The U. S., Britain, France and
the Benelux countries would be on
the board. The plan represented a
major concession to French de
mands £or close supervision over
the coal and steel producing re
gion.
An authoritative source in Chile
said the “democratic countries” of
America soon may issue a joint
statement calling for some sort of
economic blockade against gov
ernments instlaled by revolution
of other force. A Chilean military
court convicted 20 men of trying
to overthrow the government last
month. ’ An irtter-Americanfi com
mission completed its iAb\^ry>4ortb
charges that Costa Rtyaxi£ fceiifg
invadedjrofn NicarafetXaT x^^j
Thursday, December 23, 1941
'-^ Australia demoded today that
the. United Nations expel Holland
un&ss she stops her attack on the
Irip{>nesian republic, r
"This is worse than Hitler did
to the Netherlands in 1940, r* coi.
mm HOdsdn Of Australia told
the security councli; ills “the first
clear-cut deliberate violation of
the V. N. charter by a member.”
Trouble torMte out anew' in Pal
estine ^fbtre fighting erupted in
jthe Negev .Desert betwen Israli
and Egyptian troops. This flouted
(Continued on Page Thirteen)
Seattle-T acoma
Ports Still Tied-Up
By AFL Workers
SEATTLE, (/P)—The ports of
Seattle and Tacoma remained idle
yesterdty as employers reported
“no change” in the status of an
AFL work stoppage.
The tie-up went into its third
I day in Seattle where AFL check
I ers and foremen first walked off
the jobs, asserting that some of
their members had been beaten af
ter the end of the CIO maritime
strike.
AFL longshoremen in Tacoma
joined the w’alkout Wednesday.
The Tacoma port, where AFL
longshoremen have jurisdicion,
I was the only major coast port op
i erating during the recent maritime
j strike. CIO pickets tried to close j
> it but were run off the docks by I
AFL squads.
j A spokesman for the waterfront
i employers of Washington made
j the “no change” statement after
, meetings with both AFL and CIO
longshore officials. He added:
“We are exploring every avenue
that may bring about a settlement.
Among the ships affected were
five serving Alaska, an area which
had its chief sourcaypf s^pp^ly cut
by the mari stcd^Lsr ^ li)
BOY AND G SCOOTS HELD
XMAS PA! EOHfcBDAY
The Boy * Scouts
had a ChridtriV ^Mdnes
day evening at the wijh
parents and irfyiledx tds as
guests. -
The boys and girls \fhd a gift
exchange after whftfo Ilunny Fa
gerstrom and June Durtb^r*' led
the group in carol singiilg.
After the refresfaftent^ the..;Oirl
Scouts took the. Christina* trie to
a needy family^ / , > \jr
The jleputtfully
decorated by Sgt. Paul * Thomas,
for the occasion.
Tonight will b^ the night of the
big drawing at the Nome Hard
ware for the Radio, Refrigerator,
land Washing Machine.
At 8 o'clock ten tickets will be
drawn. The flr$t number will have
.first choice, the second number
f second choice, and the third num
ber the remaining item.
1 These numbers will be posted in
the Nome Hardware window, and
advertised in the Nome Nugget for
two weeks.
In the event ahy of the first
three numbers are not claimed
within this time the remaining
prizes will automatically , go to the
next numbers drawn .
Ten Die In Crash
Of B-50 Bomber
FAIRBANKS, (AP) — Ten men,
who would have flown to the
States for Christmas, were found
dead yesterday—victims of the
first crash involving the air force’s
new B-50 bomber.
The four-engined craft, a radic
ally improved version of the B-29
superforts which carried atomic
bombs to Japan, had been missing
since Wednesday night on a flight
from the Eielson air force base.
The burned wreckage of the
plane was located by another air
force plant yesterday in a tim
bered area 10 miles south of the
base.
Ground parties were scheduled
to reach the crashed plane some
time today. Helicopters flew to the
scene yesterday and confirmed i
that all aboard the ship had died. |
The ground crews were unable to ,
cross the Tanana river yesterday j
to reach the area.
The plane, which has a normal
gross weight of 60 tons compared
to 53 for the B-29, can carry 10,
000 pounds of bombs. Its engines
each are rated at 3,500 horsepow- :
er, compared to 2,000 for the or
iginal superfort.
SUP To Hold
Strike Vote Dec. 27
SAN FRANCISCO, (/P), A strike
vote which could lead to a new i
west coast maritime tie-up will be j
taken by the AFL Sailors Union
of the Pacific beginning Monday.
The vote was authorized at a
union meeting Wednesday which
delayed the sailing of two passen
ger liners several hours.
The seamen are demanding
wage increases of from $20 to $60
per month. That would bring top
pay up to $350 a month for boats
wains.
The union’s negotiators told the
meeting here ship owners have of
fered, from $16 to $35 per month
with ' adjustments possible in
working rules to compensate for
the difference.
• The membership meeting held
u pdeparture of the President Wil
son with 550 passngers for the Far
East by 10 hours. Sailing of the
Lurline for Honolulu with 700
passengers was delayed near five
hours. •
They were the first passenger
liner sailings since the recent end
of the 95-day strike by four CIO
and one independent maritime un
ions.
American President Lines, own
er of the Wilson, and Matson Nav
igation company, owner of the
Lurline, said the union meeting
constituted a work stoppage in vi
olation of the work contract. Un
ion leaders denied it.
BULLETIN!
WASHINGTON. </P>—Air Force
seasonal communique:
"Our early warning radar net to
the north gives following spot po
sition report of object detected
heading southerly direction:
"One unidentified sleigh, pow
ered by eight reindeer, at 14,000
feet; heading. 180 degrees. Inter
ceptors alerted but unable to con
tact. Estimated time of arrival
over target 2400 hours 24 Decem
ber 48."
Boy, 13, Fights Off
Sharks Two Days
GUANTANAMO BAY. Cuba W)
A 13-year-old cabin boy who
fought off sharks for nearly two
days in coastal Cuban waters, was
reported “getting along fine” yes
terday in a United States naval
hospital.
The boy—Russell Anthony L#a
tona, of Sacramento, Calif.—told
authorities he had leaped over
board to try and save Bent Jepp
sen, his 14-year-old Danish fel
low cabin boy aboard the ship
Crete Maersk. Sharks killed Jepp
sen. No noe saw the boys go over
board and they were not missed.
“I tried to save Bent,” Russell
said, “but the sharks got after
him, and the spot where we were
was soon red with blood, and the
sharks got after me too.”
“Finally, the sharks killed Bent,
and I moved away from there, but
they kept after me. I don’t know
how I kept them off, but I splash
ed at them, screamed and pulled
away as fast as I could.”
Russell jumped overboard off
the coast of Cape Maisi on Dec. 14.
He finally reached shore near Ta
co, on the north Cuban coast,
about 10 miles from where he
leaped into the sea. He wore a life
belt.
Adn>. W. K. Phillips, command
ant of the U. S. naval operating
base said Russell “is in remark
ably good condition.” Phillips said
what saved the boy’s life was his
foresight in pitching a life belt
into the sea.
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