OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LIII No. 136 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1951 Per Copy—lof
Truce Negotiators 1
44 A Lot Closer To
Agreement”
MUNSAN, Korea, </P)—A U.N.
command spokesman said today
truce negotiators were “a lot
closer” to agreement on the Ko
rean buffer zone dispute than a
month ago or even a week ago.
Lt. Col. Holard S. Levie, acting
U.N. spokesman, told news men
that in the six days since both
sides submitted new cease-fire
proposals, the negotiators have
“certainly cleared the air.”
Levie said he is confident the
buffer zone dispute will be set
tled. But he wouldn’t guess when.
“If the United Nations Command
delegates did not believe that,
they wouldn’t be going back day
after day,” he said.
Maj. Gen. Henry I. Hodes, U.N.
Command subcommittee chair
man, told the Red delegates Fri
day their buffer zone proposal
would fix the cease-fire line at |
the same place as the Allied pro
posal.
Friday s session — live nours
and 15 minutes — was held in a
new olive drab tent set up by
the communists Thursday night.
Their old weather-stained tent
finally succumbed to heavy rains.
U.N. Command technicians in
stalled electric lights and heaters, j
KOREAN SITUATION
SEOUL, (/P) — Chinese troops
supported by at least five tanks
knocked Allied infantrymen out
of an advance position north of
Yonchon on the western front to
day.
On the eastern end of the battle
1 i n e, a communist company
pushed Allied troops off a hill
with an attack which began about
midnight and continued until
dawn.
Allied jet fighters on sweeps
over North Korea spatted about
116 Russian-type MIG-15 jets to
day, but the communist pilots
showed no desire to fight. •
_
Britain Asks Verification
Of Korean Atrocities
LONDON, (/PI — Britain has
asked the United States if it can
back up an American 8th Army
officer’s charge that the Korean
Reds have killed 5,790 Allied war
prisoners, including about 10
Britons.
i
A foreign office spokesman told
reporters today this country had
no official information about the
alleged atrocities. Nor has any
word reached the British* govern
ment through its intelligence
sources, according to defense min
istry officials.
United Nations military head
quarters in Tokyo is probing the
atrocity charges.
Rejects Too-High Bids
JUNEAU, i7P) — All three bids
on grading of 1.9 miles of the
Wrangell Highway extension
were rejected by the Bureau of
Public Roads yesterday because
the bids were deemed too high.
The bidders were the Berg
Construction Co., Juneau, $195,
868.40; Stock and Grove, Anchor
age, $199,052; and Keil and Peter
man, Juneau; $226,093.
Truman Insists On
Fair Deal Program
On 1952 Platform
KEY WEST, Fla., (TP) — Presi
dent Truman plans to fight for his
entire “Fair Deal” program —
civil rights proposals and all —
both within his own Democratic
party as well as against his Re
publican opponents.
And regardless of who runs for
President on the Democratic tick
et, whether it’s Mr. Truman him
self or someone else, the chief ex
ecutive made it crystal clear
yesterday that he has no thought
of giving up control of the Demo
cratic party.
Four years ago the President
lost four southern states by his
firm adherence to these sharply
controversial civil rights pro
posals.
His insistence yesterday that
his “Fair Deal” program be in
corporated into his party’s plat
form for the 1952 race shaped up
as an obvious challenge to such
leaders of the anti-Truman forces
as Gov. James F. Byrnes of South
Carolina and Senator Byrd (D-Va).
Byrd, a stalwart in the south’s
opposition to the civil rights pro
gram, declared that inclusion of
this program in the platform the
Democrats will take into the pre
sidential campaign will mean a
hard fight within the party.
“Dead" Woman Comes To
Life In Seattle Mortuary
SEATTLE, (/P)—A change in a
vital statistic file revealed late
yesterday that a Seattle woman
lived four days after she was
pronounced dead and taken to a
funeral home Monday.
The spark of life in the body
of Mrs. Ida Schmidt, 60-year-old
widow, was noted by an attendant
at the Greenlake Funeral Home
four hours after a physician had
pronounced her dead and her
body had been taken to the mor
tuary.
A faint movement of the jaw
tipped the attendant to the wom
an’s condition and she was re
moved to a hospital. She was kept
alive until yesterday afternoon
when hospital attendants said she
succumbed ta the cerebral hem
orrhage which plunged her into a
coma early Monday.
Her death was recorded with
the coroner Monday but the file
was later removed, bringing the
case to light.
Chief Deputy Coroner C. L.
Harris said the file was removed
because “the only time we record
a death is when there is a death.
We changed the record when we
received the report she was alive.”
Swedish Writer Wins
Nobel Prize in Literature
STOCKHOLM, (/P)—'The Swed
ish Academy Thursday awarded
the 1951 Nobel Prize for Litera
ture to one of itts own members,
Par Lagerkvist, author of the nov
el “The Dwarf”.
Lagerkvist, who is 60 years old
and a playwright, poet, essayist
and.writer of short stories as well
as a novelist, will receive a check
for 167,612 crowns ($32,357) from
King Gustav Adolf at the Nobel
Prize presentation ceremony to be
held in Stockholm on Dec. 10.
ADB Open Form
Had Distinguished
Panel of Speakers
The Alaska Development Board
open forum which was concluded
late Monday probably had the
most distinguished panel of speak
ers ever to be gathered before in
Alaska, according to A. Polet, who
returned to Nome yesterday.
Speakers included D. E. Skin
ner of the Alaska Steamship Co.,
Lt. Gen. W. E. Kepner, Dr. Terris
Moore, president of the Univer
sity of Alaska, Joseph Morgan of
the Bureau of Reclamation Ser
vice, J. P. Johnson, of the Alaska
Railroad, and many others.
Under the Road Development
Panel, headed by Herb Hilscher
as moderator, one program of par
ticular interest to Nome was that
called “Roads West to Nome”
which included not only the vital
Nome-to-Teller road, but all the
connecting links to the various
fields of strategic minerals, such
us Tin City, Wales, Lost River, as
well as the Nome-Fairbanks ter
minal of the International High
way, which program was en
dorsed as highly important to the
development of Alaska.
Under the Industrial Develop
ment Panel, Gen. Kepner stated
that “geography has placed Alas
ka squarely across the front be
tween the communistic countries
and the democracies. By its po
sition, Alaska is the easiest in
vasion point of any other spot
on the globe. It is the gateway to
the arsenals of democracy.”
William Johnson, Fairbanks
banker named lack of capital as
Alaska’s principle obstacle. He
proposed that a fixed 8 per cent
interest be boosted to 10 or 12
per cent in order to attract out
side capital.
Mr. Polet was NWA Chamber
of Commerce speaker under the
Industrial Development Panel and
(Continued on Page Two)
Missing Wien Plane
Is Reported Safe
ANCHORAGE, (JP) — A Wien
Alaska Airlines plane, reported
missing on a flight above the
Arctic Circle has landed safely at
Betties, Alaska. The CAA here re
ported the landing last night but
gave no details.
Earlier, the CAA had reported
the radio-equipped Cessna 140 as
unaccounted for on a flight from
Altna, an Eskimo* village on the
Arctic Circle, to Betties, 50 miles
farther north.
The pilot was identified only as
a Mr. Hughes, “an experienced
Alaskan flier.” Whether passen
gers were aboard was not re
ported.
Second Crash In 10 Days
At Langley Air Base
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE,
Va., (#>)—Three Air Force crew
men were killed here last night
when a B-26 crashed while its
pilot attempted an instrument
landing in a heavy fog.
It was the second fatal crash
here within ten days. Two men
were killed when a B-26 crashed
v
here Nov. 1 after one of its en
gines caught fire.
U.S. To Give
Financial Aid To
Iran Government
WASHINGTON, (/P)—President
Truman was reported today/ to
have assured Iran’s prime minis
ter the United States will do what
it can to grant financial aid to
the near-bankrupt Iranian gov
ernment.
Deputy Premier Hossein Fa
temi told a reporter Mr. Truman
gave these assurances in a letter
sent last night to Premier Mo
hammed Mossadegh of Iran.
The President’s letter was in
reply to an urgent message sent
Sunday by Mossadegh. This ap
pealed for immediate financial aid
to keep Iran’s economy from
being paralyzed by lack of funds
as a result of the continuing
Anglo-Iranian oil dispute. Aides
said Iran wants $120,000,000.
Mossadegh plans to leave by
plane on Sunday for Egypt en
route to Iran. Aides said the
prime minister wants to chart a
joint Egyptian - Iranian policy
against “colonialism and com
munism'’ during the visit.
.— — ■■
Short Sketches
Of Prospective
Judge and D.A.
In addition to the Second Divi
sion Democratic Committee’s en
dorsement of Harold Butcher of
Anchorage for the Second Divi
sion U.S. District judgeship, and
James Von der Heydt.for the po
sition of Second Division U. S.
district attorney, both received
the endorsement of Alaska’s Dem
ocratic National Committeeman,
Howard Lyng of Nome, and that
of the Northwestern Alaska
Qhamber of Commerce. There is
presently no bar association at
Nome.
Harold J. Butcher was born
May 17, 1906 at Ogden, Utah, and
is a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
He was educated in the public
schools, and Weaver College, all
of Ogden. Following college Mr.
Butcher went to Washington, D.
C., where he was employed in
various government positions. In
1937 he was graduated with a
law degree from Southeastern
University of Washington, D.C.
During the late war Mr. Butch
er was an official of the U.S.
Public Roads Administration. His
position was that of General Pur
chasing Agent with headquarters
at Seattle and Calgary, Canada,
and he had approximately 150
persons employed under him. He
had occasion to make several trips
into Alaska in connection with
the building of the Alaska High
way, and liking what he saw, set
tled permanently in Anchorage in
June, 1944.
Mr. Butcher passed the Alaska
Bar Examination in October 1944,
and was immediately appointed
director of O.P.A. for the Third
Division, resigning in August of
1945, to enter into private prac
tice of law in Anchorage where
he has been an outstanding mem
ber of his chosen profession. He
(Continued on Page Two)
Korean Atrocities
Catch Military
By Surprise
TOKYO, (/P) — American front
line troops in Korea were told
today the Reds have slaughtered
5,500 of their captured buddies.
The Armed FoTces Radio broad
cast for the first time the figures
Col. James M. Hanley announced
Wednesday — “so the GIs will
know what they are up against.”
Hanley is the center of an army
investigation because he announ
ced the totals. The colonel said he
released them so front line troops
wouldn’t be fooled by Red pro
paganda.
The Armed Forces Radio earlier
was silent on the subject while
the west of the world heard—and
was shocked. The radio began
beaming the story to the front
this afternoon.
Maj. Edgard L. Tidwell, chief
of the Far East Network, ex
plained the delay: “There were
too many unknown quantities.
When we could finally pin things
down, we let it go.”
The announcement caught the
military by surprise — from the
U.S. Eighth Army in Korea to
the Pentagon in Washington.
South Korean government of
ficials said today there was no
thing new in the atrocity figures.
The rest of the world didn’t ac
cept the announcement so matter
of-factly.
Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, su
preme Allied commander, sent his
press information officer to Ko
rea to investigate the details of
the disclosure, and the figures
themselves.
In Washington, U. S. senators
said they were puzzled that top
military and goverment officials
expressed surprise over the re
port.
Senator Young (R-ND), won
dered out loud whether the ad
ministration was “trying to mini
mize the tragedies of the Korea
war. ... I would think anything
as important as that would find
our top 1 e v e Is officially in
formed.”
— „-A— —— -...
Legion Commander Says
Communist Massacres
Prove U. S. Is At War
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., (/P) —
The commander of the American
Legion Department of Alaska said
Wednesday he was appalled by
the news of Communist massacres
of United States troops in Korea.
“Such actions,” said John H.
Van Horn of Sitka, Alaska, “prove
that the United States is at war
and not engaged in a police-ac
tion. The enemy is ruthless and
*
uncompromising. The news bears
out the need for military control
rather than the State Department
rule of warfare.
Van Horn now is attending the
national conference of department
commanders here.
20 Below In Montana
HELENA, Mont., (/P) — The
mercury dropped to 20 degrees
below zero at West Yellowstone,
Mont., early today, and the U.S.
Weather Bureau predicted more
of the same tonight.