m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LI. No7 30_NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 1949_Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF ,
*
ANCHORAGE </P)^Juneau and
Anchorage high schools met here
last night in the first game of a
best-of-three series to decide the
Alaska interscholastic basketball
champion.
Juneau defeated Petersburg last \
weekend to represent Southeast
ern Alaska. Anchorage won the
Fur Rendezvous championship
three weeks ago to represent west
ern Alaska.
This is the second year for All
Alaska playoffs. East year Ketchi
kan defeated Fairbanks for the
crown.
ANCHORAGE, <JP)—Anchorage
scored a victory over Juneau last
night in the first game of the
Alaska high school basketball
championships.
A second game will be played
tonight and a third, if necessary,
tomorrow.
WASHINGTON, {&)—The nom
ination of Llewellyn M. Williams
of Alaska to be secretary of Alas
ka, a re-appointment, was can
firmed last night by the Senate by
voice vote.
BRUNSWICK. Germany, (SP)—
An explosion at a British scrap
iron dump near here killed 13
workers and injured 36.
The casualties were Germans
and displaced persons, mainly
Poles, working at the' dump.
The scrap was being cut for ex
port.
FRANKFURT, Germany, {A3) —
The newspaper Neue Presse today
reported the death of 41 German
workers in an explosion of a pow
der factory near Bautzen, in Sov
iet-occupied Saxony.
CAMDEN N. J. {A3) — Martin
English of Moorestofn, N. J., was
fined $2 a finger yesterday for
thumbing his nose at patrolman
Patrick Carr.
Carr told police judge John R.‘
Dimona that English thumbed his
nose at him after being repri
manded for striking a pedestrian.
English explained he had be
come angered and “lost my head.”
“You are going to lose more
than that,” said Judge Dimona.
“‘It will cost you $10—or $2 a fin
ger.”
—
DAYTON, O. (JP)—Police today
sought a facetitious check forger
who “took” three cafes for $128.
All three checks were. signed
“William Moneymaker.”
SEATTLE, (>P) — The Alaska
Steamship company frei g h t e r
.Chief Washakie sailed yesterday
morning with 76 passenger vehic
les aboard. They included 75 auto
mobiles and one “Snocat.” A Sno
cat is a specially-designed vehicle
for use in heavy snow. It will be
exhibited in Valdez and interior
points.
SEATTLE, <;P) — Seattle will
play host to the queen of the Fair
banks, Alaska, winter carnival the
rest of this weekend.
The queen. June Wagner, will
arrive here today with her prin
, cesses, Patricia Clark and Mona
, Burnett, via Pan American Air-'
More Seaman
Contest Alaska
Income Tax Law
i
- :
SAN FRANCISCO, (/P)—Mari
time unions representing 28 sea
men filed suit in federal court
here yesterday seeking to stop the
deduction of Alaska Territorial
income taxes from their pay.
(
The plaintiffs were members of
the crews of the steamers James
W. Cannon and John O. Cropper,!
operated by coastwise lines. The
suit charged Alaskan income taxes
had been deducted since January.
It was alleged that such deduc
tions are unconstitutional and an
invasion of the admiralty and
maritime jurisdiction of the
United States. The line operates
between San Francisco and Alaska
and the suit claims that most of
the work performed by the sea
men takes place outside Alaskan
waters.
The Alaskan income tax law
was passed by the Territorial leg
islature last January and, accord
ing to the suit, the company im
mediately began deductions. The
amount deducted from paychecks
is 10 per cent of the figure deduct
ed for payment of U. S. income
and security taxes.
The sailors union of the Pacific
and the masters, mates and pilots
union, local 90 joined the seamen
in bringing th suit.
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
Thursday, March 10. 1949
(By James Hutcheson)
JUNEAU, </P) —By a one-vote
margin and after two days and
two nights of debate the Territo
rial House passed the liquor con
trol bill last night.
The vote was 13-1.1, the slim
mest margin by which the mea
sure could pass.
Rep. Frank L. Johnson, Nome
Republican, said, however, he
would move for reconsideration.
Yesterday the final day for bill
introduction, saw the introduction
of 15 measures in the Senate and
13 in the House.
One of the new Senate bills, by
Sen. Victor C. Rivers, proposed a
referendum in the 1950 election on
whether the Territory should as
sume exclusive wholesale distribu
tion of liquor.
The House stripped several lib
eralizing provisions from the li
quor bill and added several
amendments for tightening en
forcement before voting passage.
Amendments adopted included:
Creation of a liquor enforce
ment division under the attorney
general with an enforcement dep
uty in each of four divisions; lim
itation of beverage dispensary li
censes to one for each 1,000 popu
(Continued on Page Three)
ways. They will call on Mayor
William F. Devlin, and visit the
Seattle art museum. Also, th6y
will be presented with orchids at
the city observatory in Volunteer
Park.
They may possibly continue on
to Hollywood, Cal., Sunday night.
“Axis Sally” Gillars
Convicted Of !
Treason To U. S. j
—
WASHINGTON, (/P) — Mildred
E. (Axis Sally) Gillars was con
victed of treason yesterday but
her punishment probably won’t
be known for a week or more.
A mixed jury found her guilty
of broadcasting propaganda for
the wartime German radio.
The jury convicted Miss Gillars
of only one of the eight treason
able acts charged to her in con
nection with her broadcasting, i
This, however, did not alter the
range of possible penalties.
The maximum possible sentence
is death in the electric chair; the
minimum, five years in prison, a
$10,000 fine and loss of her Amer
ican citizenship.
The conviction was based on a
radio drama called “Vision of In
vasion.”
In “Vision of Invasion,” Miss
Gillars played the role of Evelyn,
an Ohio mother who dreamed that
her son was killed in the invasion.
The Germans broadcast it four
weeks before Allied troops landed
I in Normandy.
' The indictment said it was
(Continued on Page Six)
International News
At A Glance —
Thursday. March 10. 1949
(By The Associated Press)
Denmark’s foreign minister
went to Washington today to get
data which will help his country
decide whether to join the pro
jected Atlantic Alliance.
The strategic position of Den
mark and the huge island of
Greenland which guards the air
and sea approaches to North
America, make the adherence of
Denmark highly important. The
foreign minister, Gustav Rasmus
sen, has declared his government’s
favorable attitude.
Eight nations now are aligned
for signatures, probably late this
month. They are the United
States, Canada, Britain, France,
Belgium, Holland, Norway and
Luxembourg. With Denm ark,
Italy, Portugal, and Iceland, the
alliance may form a bloc of a
dozen nations against Russia and
Communism. All four states have
expressed interest. The treaty is
completely drafted but its terms
have not. been published.
A committee of a conference
which said it represents 35,000,000
Protestants worked on a statement
in Cleveland asking the U. S. Sen
ate to delay action until Ameri
cans can consider implications of
the accord. The churchmen dis
turbed lest the alliance basically
is military in intent.
The body Russia calls a parlia
ment convened in Moscow. Its ac
tions, which will be what the
modem czars* of the politburo de
sire may give clues to some Rus
sian enigmas. These are the sig
nificance of the seven recent
shifts in high Russian leadership,
including the replacement of for
eign minister V. M. Molotov by
(Continued on Page Seven)
Indict Miss Coplon
For Espionage
NEW YORK, iff) — A federal
grand jury yesterday returned a j
four-count espionage indictment
indictment against Judith Coplon,
department of justice analyst, and '
Vanentin A. Gubitchcv, Russian
engineer employed by the United
Nations.
One count said Miss Coplon de
livered to Gubitchev “information
relating to the national defense to
wit, documents, writings and
notes containing intelligence re
ports relating to espionage and
counter-espionage activities in the i
United States.
The two were arrested here last;
Friday night after FBI agents had
trailed them through Manhattan
streets.
Tornadoes Strike
Deep South
ATLANTA, (/P) — Early spring
tornaodes cut a crazy pattern
through six southern states Wed
nesday. One Negro school pupil
was killed and two score other
persons were injured.
Property damage was wide
spread. The storms fanned out
from DeRidder in southwest Lou
isiana, through Mississippi, Arkan
sas, Tennessee and then hit at
Columbus, Ga., and nearby Ihenix
City, Ala. across the Chattahoo
chee River.
The first storm struck about
noon at DeRidder, La., where eight
Negro homes and a gas filling sta
tion were destroyed. There were
no injuries reported.
The next blow came at Tevry,
Miss., about 15 miles south of
Jackson. There two rooms of a
five-room concrete school were de
molished, and 14-year-old Ethel
Kendrick was killed. Twenty
three other students were hurt.
_
Pair Hold-up Train
In True Old-Time
Western Fashion
MARTINSBURG. W. Va. (/Pi—
Two gun-slinging bad men robbed
an express train with western
flourishes Wednesday night.
They got about $1000 from the
terrorized passengers and train
men. It was a tense 35 minutes
aboard the Baltimore and Ohio’s
Ambassador, headed from Balti
more to Detroit.
Posses made up of West Virgin
ia Maryland and Virginia officers |
spread an elaborate search.
They were looking for two men !
about 25, one with a mustache and j
the other wearing a sports jacket.!
They asked Washington police to!
watch for a pair who switched to j
a bus bound for the Capital.
W. L. Denton, general superin
tendent of Baltimore and Ohio po
lice. said the identity of one of the
bandits had been established.
The man has a criminal record, ■
Denton said, and his rogues gal
lery picture has been identified
by passengers and train crewmen.
Jesse James and his western
cronies would have been proud of
(Continued on Page Eight)
Union Pickets
Cannery Tender
In Labor Dispute
SEATTLE, (>P)—First picketing
of the 1949 salmon season started
here yesterday, but it involved a
dispute from the previous year.
The pickets were from the Alas
ka fishermen’s union, demanding
reinstatement of a cannery tender
crew which the union contends
was “locked out” last fall.
Boats involved were two ten
ders owned by the Emard Packing
company, moored on Lake Union
near the St. Vincent de Paul ware
house.
Oscar Anderson, union business
agent, said the tender crews had
refused to pass a picket line of
fishermen at Anchorage last sum
mer. They returned to work when
the dispute was settled, on July
11, he said, but when the season
ended the company sent the crew
south by plane and the tender
was brought to Seattle later by a
non-union crew.
The company has since refused
to reinstate the original crew*
charging incompetency, Anderson
| said. This charge was branded as
ridiculous by Anderson, who said
some of the crew members had
been with the company as long as
11 years.
Russian Refuses To
Answer Questions
NEW YORK. (/P) — A Russian
engineer accused of espionage to
day refused to answer questions at
his arraignment in federal court
and claimed diplomatic immunity.
Valentine A. Gubitchev, the
Russian indicted yesterday witlk
Judith Coplon, U. S. justice de
partment employee, declared the
prosecution against him was “to
pursue certain aims.”
However, Judge Simon H. Rif
kind answered sharply:
“Let the defendant know if he
is under the illusion that he is go
ing to be punished without first
being convicted by due process of
law, he is harboring a mistaken
idea.”
The judge continued Gubit
chev’s $100,000 bail and declined
to accept the statement of the sus
pended United Nations employee
that he did not want counsel.
Rifkind said he would assign a
lawyer to represent Gubitchev. He
then put off until Monday the
pleading on the indictment.
BILL ODOM ON RED CROSS
BENEFIT FLIGHT
NEW YORK (/P)—Flier William
I. Odom plans a two-week-lonc
nationwide flying tour to benefit
the American Red Cross.
The aviator who last Tuesday
spanned the Pacific in a light
plane on a record-breaking 5,300
mile flight from Hawaii to New
Jersey, announced his plan for the
benefit flight Wednesday.
Odom said he would take off
next Monday with scheduled stopsr
at Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia.
Joplin, Mo., Dallas and Houston.
Texas. The incomplete itinenary
then calls for him to double back,
eastward to Bridgeport, Conn.. ar«*
riving there March 22.