m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL.XLVIII. No. 126 NOME, ALASKA. MONDAY. OCTOBER 21. 1946 PER COPY—15c
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Entire Building
And Contents
Destroyed
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Nome has had many fires and
floods in its colorful past but
never has there been such tragedy
as occurred last Friday night in
the fire which totally destroyed
the Bon Marche store and took
the lives of three children of Mr.
and Mrs. Ed Seidenverg. The
children were Sarah Sue, aged
four, Robert, aged seven and
Jerry aged 14.
Although the cause of the fire
is unknown, Joe Crabtree, who (
was in the building, states that
he could not have been asleep
more than fifteen minutes when
he was roused by heavy smoke.
He immediately called upstairs to
rouse the boys but got no answer.
He states the heavy oily smoke
poured in so fast that in a few
minutes it was impossible to
breathe so he crawled on his
hands and knees in an attempt to
reach the crib of the youngest
child. After two attempts he was
forced to give up and barely es
caped with his life.
Lt. Robert Smith, fire marshal
ft from the post and Allen Doyle
of Nome, were able to save Ileene,
aged twelve. After rescuing the
c!ft.:ld Lt. Smith collapsed from
the smoke and was taken to the
post hospital.
Benjamin Tell of the U.S.E.D.
who climbed a telephone pole to
cut the power line received a se
vere shock and fell back against
his safety belt until rescued. He
has been treated for shock and
temporary paralysis of the legs.
•He was attempting to cut off the
power so rescuers in and around
the building would not be imper
iled with falling wire.
Private Leroy Stenson injured
his toes when he fell through the
floor of the burning building.
A persistent rumor that the
body of a soldier was found in
the ruins is denied by post author
ities.
4 Realizing that the local Nome
^ire department could not cope
with the fire a call was made to
the Nome Base for aid. One piece
of equipment responded. It was
realized that was not sufficient
and a general “17” alarm was
sounded at the Base.
Under the combined efforts of
the Nome and the Base fire fight
ing equipment and the superb
^and efficient work of the Nome
w department under Chief Brown
and the Nome Base department
«U$ider the direction of Sam Hux
ley, the fire was confined entire
ly to the Bon Marche building.
The J. W. Thompson building,
(Continued on Page Four)
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SHRINE IN SCULPTUR E—Washington. Jefferson. Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln loom
against fleecy clouds in this view of the Mt. Rushmore memorial in South Dakota’s Black Hills.
“By-Pass Seattle**
Ketchikail Says
KETCHIKAN, «/P) — Ketchikan
merchants discussed Satur day
with C. J. Smith, president of the
Juneau Merchants association, a
shipping proposal which calls for
the by-passing of the port of Seat
tle and the purchasing of mer
chandise in the midwest and east
ern markets for shipment via
Canada.
Under the proposition the cargo
would be carried on vessels oper
ated by veterans of World War II.
Smith said the vessels would be
operated on a cooperative basis,
with members of the crews shar
ing in the stock.
Maritime union headquarters in
Seattle and San Francisco are fav
orable to the proposal, Smith told
the merchants.
The contracts would have stipu
lations allowing crew operation in
case of other strikes with the pro
viso that the crews would be
granted what unions were allowed
at the strikes’ end, to be retroac
tive.
Smith said that recent investi
gaiton of the pilferage problem
showed that most of the missing
merchandise never reached Seat
tle docks but was going into the
Seattle black markets.
In 1944, more than 800,000,000
pounds of paraffin were extracted
and refined from petroleum.
Ur«*c Clearance Of
Ships For South
East Alaska
SEATTLE. i/P)—The Alaska de
partment of Seattle chamber of
commerce has asked Cmdr. E. P.
Chester, representative of Gov.
Gruening, to urge union clearance
of two regular steamships to carry
foodstuffs and medical supplies to
Southeastern and Southwestern
Alaska.
A survey of Seattle wholesalers,
produce dealers and feed mer
chants disclosed that more than
3,000 tons of commodities are
awaiting shipment to the Terri
tory, the department said.
The northwest committee for
maritime unity, representing
striking waterfront unions, has
restricted shipments of food and
stock feed to Alaska to small-pri
vately-owned craft, not under
charter to any commercial steam
ship company.
Under the clearance program,
several small vessels have been
okehed by the CMU and are load
ing in Seattle, it was reported. The
Dorothy, carrying 79 tons, sailed
last week, and the Eskimo, with
120 tons, is expected to sail
shortly. The Alaska Queen was to
begin loading 260 tons of food and
stock feed supplies at Lake Union
today.
In 1938, Mexicans wore out only
253,000 lead pencils.
Rumor Attempt
On Popes Life
ROME, i/P)—An informant at
Italian police headquarters said
today that "vague reports” were
received there some days ago of
an impending attempt on the life
of Pope Pius XII.
The informant said these re
ports—which an intensive inves
tigation had failed so far to sub
stantiate—said the plot had been
fomented by Yugoslav elements
irate at the Vatican’s action in
excommunicating Yugoslav Cath
olic officials held responsible for
the collaboration trial of Arch
bishop Alojzijc Stepinac. Stepan
ic, head of the Catholic church in
Yugoslavia, who was convicted
and sentenced to 16 years impris
onment.
A list of some 20 names of the
alleged plotters was furnished to
the Italian police, the informant
said, but so far police have not
found any of the persons named—
or even determined whether they
really exist.
NORTH STAR DEPARTS
FOR KING ISLAND
The North Star departed last
Saturday with the King Island na
tives to their winter home. A few
of the natives are remaining in
town for the winter due to the
overcrowded conditions on the is
land.
Alaska Airlines To
II ave Four Flights
W eekly Into Nome
J
Marshall Hoppin, general man
ager of the Alaska Airlines is on
a short visit to Nome, the purpose
of which he states is to increase
the present schedule of flights into
nome to four a week. This sched
ule will be maintained as long as
the business justifies, and will be
further increased if necessary.
Mr. Hoppin stated that it is the
policy of the Alaska Airlines to
serve Alaskans as efficiently as
possible.
Other increased schedules, dm*
to the increase in business in the
last six months will be two
round trips a day between An
chorage and Fairbanks, and two
round trips a week to Naknek and
Bethel. All trips are being made
with DC-3.
A new DC-4 made its inaugural
freight trip to Seattle on October
17 and is due to arrive in Anc or
age with 18,000 pounds of freight.
This ship will be kept on the
Seattle-Chicago-Alaska run on a
non-schedule freight plan. !t will
also carry passengers.
The company is also revis'ng
rates and tariffs and Nomeites
will be surprised at the new low
rates to various parts of the Ter
ritory. All tariffs will be published
and approved by the CAB.
The last six months have shown
the largest gross income since the
company was organized, with
freight traffic showing a 135%
increase and passenger travel a
95 "r increase. Airmail has in
creased 100'i since the new pos
tal rates went into effect.
Mr. Hoppin returned to head
quarters in Anchorage today.
Chinese Capture
Two. li. S. Marines
PEIPING, (/P)-Two U. S. Mar
ines, members of a nine-man
hunting party, were captured yes
terday by armed Chinese and stilL
were missing today. Marine head
quarters announced.
In another incident, three U. S.
sailors traveling by jeep near
Tangku Harbor fought off 50 Chi
nese in a gunbattle in which sev
eral Chinese were wounded. None
of the sailors were hurt. •
Both groups of Chinese were
presumed to be Communists.
All nine members of the hunt
ing party were seized by three
separate Chinese patrols but seven
were released after being brought
together.