THE I
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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_ •
VOL. LIII No. 152 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1951_Per Copy—15?
Hungary Sets
Ransom $30,000
Apiece Four Fliers
(By the Associated Press)
United States officials, from the
President down, appeared shock
ed and puzzled Monday by the
ransom demand of Communist
Hungary for four fliers forced
down in their unarmed cargo
plane and convicted in a swift
trial. They were accused of vio
lating the Hungarian border.
The situation seemed to be un
parallel in hstory. U.S. officials
both in Washington and in Buda
pest moved cautiously, aware that
the Hungarian move was one cal
culated to humiliate the United
States before the world, and re
membering that premature spec
ulation in the jailing of American
businessman Robert Vogeler by
Hungary delayed his release from
prison.
A military court, acting with
astonishing speed, convicted the
four fliers in Budapest yester
day of violating the border with
the intention of aiding spies and
subversive elements. The four
were fined the equivalent of
$30,000 each and the plane, a
C-47, was ordered confiscated.
Only a week before, Soviet For
eign Minister Andrei Vishinsky
referred to the four fliers in a
speech as having violated “Soviet
territory” and expressed the hope
that they would be dealt with by
“our” military and justice author
ities.
The' news that the sentence
was a fine—or three months im
prisonment if the fine was not
paid — relieved relatives of their
fears. They had expected worse.
Business as Usual
Day Before Xmas
On Korean Front
SEOUL, Korea, (£>)—Allied sol
diers today prayed for peace but
fought scattered skirmishes on
the frosty Korean battle front.
There was plenty of Christmas
spirit along the 145-mile front.
United Nations troops had relig
ious serv;ces, wrapped gifts for
Korean orphans, gathered around
trees decorated with home-made
baubles and opened packages
from home.
Francis Cardinal Spellman,
Archbishop of New York, cele
brated his first wartime mass in
Korea this morning with 600 sol
diers. The white-haired cardinal,
dressed in army winter clothing,
was on a flying tour of front line
units.
But for many a soldier, the day
before Christmas meant “business
as usual.” With the mercury
around the freezing level, U. N.
forces repulsed a series of small
communist probing attacks early
today.
The heaviest action of the 24
hour period ending at midnight
Sunday was a stiff two-hour fight
between an Allied tank-infantry
raiding party and Chinese Reds
southwest of Chorwon in west
central Korea.
In the air, F-86 Sabre jets
swept “MIG alley” throughout
the day without spotting a Com
munist jet.
4
Anchorage Asks To
Increase Bonded Debt
To 12 and a Half Million
WASHINGTON, (£>)—-The De
partment of Interior has given its
endorsement to two bills per
taining to Alaska which would
permit:
1. Appointment of deputy U.S.
Commissioners in the territory;
2. An increase in the bonded
indebtedness of Anchorage from
its present five million dollar
ceiling to a top of 12Vfe million.
The office of Alaska Delegate
Bartlett said it was hoped that a
hearing on the latter bill could be
held soon after Congress recon
venes. Both bills are pending in
the House Interior Committee.
The department gave its approval
in reports filed with the commit
tee.
OPS To Oversee
Cost of Weapons
For Armed Forces
WASHINGTON, (£>)—'The Of
fice of Price Stabilization set up
to protect the housewife against
price gouging, is going to per
form the same service for the
armed forces.
OPS and the Defense Depart
ment announced jointly yester
day the establishment of a gov
ernment committee to make sure
the government is not over-charg
ed for the airplanes, tanks and
other weapons it buys.
In an unrelated development
also dealing with the cost of the
defense program, Senator Lyndon
Johnson (D-Tex) praised Secre
tary of the Army Pace “for his
willingness to save the taxpayers’
money” by moving to end double
inspection of food by the Quarter
master Corps and the Agriculture
Department.
Johnson is chairman of a Sen
ate Armed Services subcommit
tee on military preparedness
which in the past has frequently
been highly critical of what it
has called wasteful use of men,
materials and money.
Czechoslovakia Gets
New Vice Premier
LONDON, (/P) — One of Mos
cow’s trusted Czech administra
tors, Dr. Jaromir Dolansky, was
named a vice premier Saturday
in a new reshuffle of Czechoslo
vakia’s communist govement.
Dolansky got the political hot
spot seat left vacant by the ar
rest last month of once-trusted
Kremlin henchman, red-haired
Rudloph Slansky — now accused
as a traitor and awaiting trial.
Prague radio announced th^t
Dolansky was sworn in Saturday
morning with three others who
moved up the ladder in the CzechT
oslovakian communist heirarchy.
Dolansky, a 56-year-old lawyer,
became secretary of the commun
ist party in Czechoslovakia in
1945 after spending most of
World War II in Nazi concentra
tion camps.
He had batted just under Slan
sky in the Czech communist line
up until Slansky was ousted in
disgrace as a Trotskyite.
Mine Blast
Takes 119 Lives
WEST FRANKFORT, 111, (A3)—
One miner was rescued from a 56
hour entombment today after the
nation’s worst mine tragedy in 23
years claimed 119 lives.
Taken from the shaft 550 feet
below the surface was Cecil San
ders, 44, of Benton, 111. He was
taken to the United Mine Work
ers hospital in serious condition.
The discovery of the last of the
119 bodies on the day before
Christmas added a poignant chap
ter to the desperate rescue ef
forts that have been in progress
day and night since the violent
explosion shattered the Orient No.
2 mine Friday night.
Morgue attendants reported one
of the six bodies found early to
day still was warm. Found on the
body of B. R. Williams, about 40,
of West Frankfort, was this final
message scrawled on the inside of
a cigarette package and addressed
to his widow, Laura:
“I love you all the way. I go
tonight with Christ. I love him
too.”
It was the worst mine disaster
in Illinois since 1909 and the
worst in the nation since 1928.
The blast ripped through the
tunnels at 8:35 p.m. Friday. It
occurred about two miles back
from the shaft and it shattered
timbers for three miles in the
sprawling mine which covers a 12
mile area.
A __
41 Die In Fire
At Tijuana Xmas
Party for Children
TIJUANA, Mexico, (/P) —
Screams of dying children and
omen left this city gripped today
in the horror of a Christmas party
fire that took a toll officially es
timated at 41 or more lives.
Burned and broken remains
were still being examined in an
effort to complete an accurate
count. There were unofficial es
timates ranging up to 90 or more.
Eighty-eight who escaped from
the burning three-story building
downstairs to a single doorway,
were treated for burns at the Mi
guel Aleman hospital. Officials
said the only fire escape was not
only locked but boarded up.
The annual party for needy
children was in full swing when
its joy was turned to terror at
11:15 Saturday night.
Three Engines On DC-4
Cut Out Over Seattle But
Makes Normal Lauding
SEATTLE, (JP) — Three en
gines of an inbound Northwest
Airlines DC-4 transport from An
chorage, Alaska, lost power as the
plane neared Seattle Wednesday
night, but the fourth remained in
normal operation and the plane
made its landing at Boeing Field,
the airline reported.
An original report that all four
engines cut out, but that the
pilot, Capt. Pat Kelleher, man
aged to get one engine started
over Elliott Bay was incorrect, an
official said. An investigation was
made by maintenance experts.
*
Churchill Will Not Press
For Meeting With Stalin
And President Truman
By JOHN M. HIGHTOWER
WASHINGTON, (IP)—A major
source of disagreement between
President Truman and British
Prime Minister Churchill was re
ported today to be fading away
in advance of Churchill’s arrival
here next month.
The issue is Churchill’s fre
quently repeated proposal for a
Big Four meeting including Mr.
Truman and Generalissimo Stalin
to try to reach some understand
ing with Soviet Russia.
Word circulating among offic
ials involved in preparations for
the Washington talks is that
Churchill almost certainly will
not press his proposal now and
may not bring it up at all.
Red Reporter
Interviews Gen.
Dean in Red Prison
PANMUNJOM, Korea, (/P) —
Maj. Gen. William F. Dean, long
missing commander of the U. S.
24th Division, told a communist
correspondent he saved his last
bullet to kill himself rather than
be captured—but that the Reds
caught him through a ruse.
The correspondent, Wilfred
Burchett, 40, of the Paris news
paper Ge Soir, said he inter
viewed Dean three days ago in a
prison camp near Pyongyang,
Korean Red capital.
Dean, a Congressional Medal of
Honor winner, was listed as miss
ing for 17 months before his name
appeared on the communist war
prisoner list.
Burchett gave this account of
his interview with Dean:
Dean wandered for a month in
the hills — without food for 20
days. Injured and sick he lost 60
pounds. Dean was surrounded six
times, but each time eluded the
Reds.
During those agonizing days,
he saved and carefully polished
his last 12 bullets. Burchett
quoted him:
“I was absolutely determined
never to become a prisoner of
war, I was determined to kill 11
North Koreans. The 12th bullet
was for me.”
But near Chinan, some 30 miles
from Taejon, Dean was sheltered
and fed by two Koreans. They
betrayed him when North Korean
soldiers closed in. Dean drew his
gun, but one of his “friends”
grabbed his arm before he ccfuld
shoot.
%
Enforcement Officer
For Alaska OPS
Is Dismissed
JUNEAU, {JP)—George W. Ap
ostol, Territorial Enforcement Di
rector for the Alaska Office of
Price Stabilization, has been dis
missed, territorial OPS director
Fred Hanford announced Friday.
“Apostol and the management
of OPS could not seem to get
together on policies,” Hanford
said.
Apostol said he had forwarded
a criticism of Hanford’s office to
OPS headquarters in Washing
ton, D.C.
X
Reds Reject Red
Cross Inspection
Korean Prisons
By GEORGE A. McARTHUR
MiUNSAN, Korea, (/P) — The
communist high command today
rejected Gen. Matthew B. Ridg
• •
way’s appeal to permit Red Cross
inspection of North Korean prison
camps.
The Peiping radio said North
Korean Premier Kim II Sung and
Chinese General Peng Teh-Huai
told the United Nations Supreme
Commander that inspections were
unnecessary because of the “hu
manitarianism” shown Allied pri
soners in Red camps.
The Red commander declared
that early agreement on an ar
mistice will permit all prisoners
to return quickly to their homes.
The added: “Several important
questions in the armistice negoti
ations are now on the point of
being settled. The only thing hold
ing up agreement is your side’s
continuous and persistent side
tracking and unreasonable de
mands which are created to de
lay the negotiations.
After listening to Rear Adm. R.
E. Libby ask again whether the
Reds would permit an immediate
exchange of sick and wounded
prisoners, North Korean Maj.
Gen. Lee Sang Jo declared: “We
hope we are trying to reach an
agreement before the 27 th of
December. Of course we will give
priority to the sick and wounded.
As the 27th is not far away, we
don’t know why there is such a
hurry.”
“I have no idea what he (Lee)
had in mind,” said Brig. Gen. Wm.
P. Nuchols, official U.N. spokes
man, when asked whether he at
tached any importance to Lee’s
reference to Dec. 27.
Prominent American
Killed In Iran Plane Crash
TEHRAN, Iran (/P)—Iran’s Am
erican colony was in mourning to
day for Dr. Henry G. Bennett,
U.S. Point Four program director,
and seven other Americans who
perished Saturday night in a
plane crash which claimed 21
lives.
The crash came when the big
four-engined plane, owned by
Egypt’s Misr Airlines, tried to
grope through a blinding snow
storm and hurtled into the base
of a 10,000-foot granite range
north of Tehran.
No one survived the disaster,
worst in Iran’s air history.
Among the victims was Ben
nett’s wife, who had accompan
ied him to Tehran for an official
five-day visit in connection with
the Point Four program of tech
nical aid to underdeveloped coun
tries.
In Washington, President Tru
man paid tribute to Bennett as “a
great teacher of the simple ideas
of cooperation and brotherhood.”
ANN ARBOR, Mich., </P)—Dr.
Louis Henrik Jordal, who was
killed in an airplane crash in
Iran Saturday night, held an hon
orary appointment as ressearch
assistant in the Botanical Gardens
at the University of Michigan.
He had done extensive botani
cal research in the Brooks range
of Arctic Alaska.