and The ARROWHEAD PRESS
Member of The Associated Press
IDcoCopy
VOLUME XVI
Friday, November 18, 1955
NUMBER 240
Commissioner refuses jury's
verdict in coroner's case
finds no evidence
except that o!
suicide
Tiie body of Charles Menade
look, Jr., 30, employee at the
laboratory at Mt. Edgecumbe,
was found .hanging Iby his belt
from a icoat hook on (the back of
the door a: room 414 on Alice
Island (by two of his friends a
out 6:30 pan. Sunday night.
Elliott Olanna and Kenneth
Dewey, two close friends of
Menadelook’s. wen: to his room
Sunday evening to ask him to
go to the movies with them. On
receiving no answer to their
knocks, they tried rihe door and
Olanna looked into the room,
seeing the body hanging on
the back Of the door.
The guards were immediate
ly summoned and the coroner
called by them.
An inquea: was convened at
11 a.m. this morning at Mt. Ed
geoumibe to inquire into the
death.
The court gave the jury a let
f.er, a holographic will and a
note — all found on the desk
in the deceased’s room. Mr.
Menadelook stated in the note,
which was addressed to his
wife,, that he was going re com
mit suicide and asked her for
giveness. His wife was living at
Angoon with her family.
The let.er which he had ap
parently written and gotten
ready to mail to his wife, and
which had been opened, also
indicated he was very unhappy
over being separated from his
wife of only a few months. The
couple had been married Sept.
2 of this year.
V eatdicombfng
• The boss said it had warm
ed up last night — that is until
she went outside.
-4-4—
• The “little” Minsr.rel who
kept moving the microphone
Friday night for some reason
didn’t get his name in the paper
or on the program as being
in thee horus — hut Tom Skill
man was one of the first to say
he would take part and one of
those who did most of the work
— alorig with Linn Thielke and
Clare Rands — in making it a
success.
—1—4—
• I predicted against my own
scihool and what did they do—
doulble crossed me an won.
But (at that I picked one of the
four right. S anford over Cal.
and humped on the other two
— Washington taking WSC and
UCLA grabbing the Coast con
ference championship by drub
bing Southern Cal.
Now all I have to worry a
bour it the Bowl games.
-4-4—
• For the first time in years
we now have a community
band — Cap Hansen’s group
will add much to the enjoyment
of the Sitfka-Mt. Edigecumbe
entertainment and should be
able in a few weeks to put or
$ full scale recital.
Investigation revealed no
one bad seen the deceased on
Sunday, while the only witnes
ses found who had seen him
Saturday said this was at noon
at the dining hall.
Dr. R. C. Reynolds and Dr.
R. T. VanNorman both exaimin
ed the body and testified that
death probably occurred some
.ime Saturday morning.
After deliberating for about
an |iour, the jury brought in a
verdict — entered into :by only
five members — that tJhe de
ceased me. death by stranlgula
‘ tion at the hands oi a person or
persons unknown. The verdict
was not approved by the court.
The court, acting as coroner, is
filing a death eertifica.e show
ing the death as a suicide by
' self-inflicted strangulation, in
; the absence of any evidence to
| indicate otherwise.
The coun: compared the sig
nature and handwriting on the
letter, note and will with the
signature in the employment
file at the island and, in its
opinion there was no question
of the writing being the same.
Jury members were Harry
Morey, Lester Roberts, Martha
Rinderknecht, Keith Cornell,
William Sarvela and M. J. Foer
ster. Mr. Sarvela did no: join
iff the verdict.
1 Mr. MenadeloOk was born at
Little Diodede April 18, 1925.
He is survived by his wife, Ver
na, of Angoon: brothers Thom
: as, Walter and David of Little
Diomede; his mother, Etr.a, of
Long Beach sanitorium; and a
sister, Laura Ochuk, a hospital
: attendant at the island. Funer
| al arrangements are pending in
! s ructions from his wife.
i -——
i
Snow-cold hits
northern section
of country
by The Associated Press I
Snow and cold gave a touch
of winter to scattered sections
of the north today.
Heavy snow fell again in
the northern half of New York
state. It measured six to eiigth-t
inches a the northeastern tip
of the. state and tow to 5 inch
es elsewhere in the state’s
snow zone.
General snow during the
t weekend in upstate New York
resulted in seven deaths in
i.raffle accidents.
Another storm center was
'over Idaho today. Grangeville,
Idaho, reported 10 inches of
fresh snow in a 24-hour period
Cold Canadian air dropped
temperatures as much as 22
degrees in parts of the Dako
tas and northern Minnesot a,
j Heavy frost was reported
during the night at Vicksburg,
Miss., and Savannah, Ga.
The frigid air plummeted
: yesterday’s high of 25 at In
terna ional Falls, Minn., to 3
' albove today. A similar 22-de
gree drop occurred at Grand
! Forks, N. D.. as the mercury
fell from 30 to 3 above.
It was partly cloudy in Se
i attle.
Not candidate now
SEATTLE (JP) Gov. Averel
j Harriman of New York said to
[ day “I am not a formal candid
; ate for president at this time.’
j The New York state chief ex
| ecutive, who will address a De
1 mocratic 'fund raising dinner
here tonilglht, declined to elab
orate on the statement made ait
a news conference. He arrived
here from Chicago last night.
Sitka mill will be
built first, says
P-i editor
SEATTLE (IP) The Seattle
Post-Intelligencer published a
story yesterday by its financial
edif.or, Fergus Hoffman, saying
Rayonier Inc., has denied re
ports it is planning to finance
Geongia-jPaoilflic Plywood’s
newsprint venture at Juneau.
Hoffman sad it will take be
tween 50 and 60 million dol
lars if Georgia-Pacific goes a
head with a plan to build at!
Juneau. He added it looks as j
if the Japanese, who want toj
produce pulp at Sitka for ex
port to Japan, will get into!
production before Georgia-Pa-1
cific gets its mill going. Japan-]
ese interests having raised 22
i/2 million dollars from home
land backers.
The Post.-Intelligencer quot- .
ed President. Clyde B. Morgan j
of Rayonier as follows:
“Rayonier, Inc., although ]
committed to a continuing poll
icy of growth, has no plans at
the present do expand its opera
dons into Alaska.
“The company in the past
has included Alaska in its nor-1
mal survey of potential tim
ber development areas but
other areas have proved more
attractive up to this date.
“Reports that Rayonier Inc.
is contemplating merger with
or acquisition of Georgia-Pacif
ic Plywood Co. are without
founda ion. No conversations
or negotiations are under way
between the two companies
and none is contemplated.”
Soviet chiefs visit
India to convert
them into Reds
! NEW DELHI, India </P) Sov
iet chiefs Nikolai Bulganin
and Nikita Khrushchev open
ed a double-barrelled attack on
! the west in the Indian parlia
ment today.
They told the more than 700
members, in the presence of
j prime minister Nehru, that
i Russia was united with India
i in an “unendimg ba.tle for
peace.”
Both criticized the west on
grounds it was “attempting to
follow policies based on a po
sition of strength.”
Soviet premier Bulganin and
first communist party secre
tary Khrushchev are here on a
l good will visit expected to last
more than twro weeks. At a
state banquet last nilght, Neh
ru warned them not to expect
• that their good will invasion
would lead India into the com
! munist bloc. Bluntly, he said
j India was “in no campaign and
no military alliance.”
| (continued on page four)
f
Local grade school girl wins
trip to New York for cake
Patricia Wilcox
is one of 20 in
nation in finals
Patricia Wilcox, a 13 year
j old 8th grade student of Sitka
I Grade School, learned today
that she has been named one
of 20 Junior finalist.s in the
Pillsbury Mills Seventh Grand
National Bake-Off to be held
December 12 and 13 in Tew
York City.
Daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Clifford Wilcox, Patricia was
chosen on the basis of an orig
inal cake reciipe that she suib
rnitred for contest judlging earl
ier this year. She will receive
an expense-paid trip to the
Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New
York where she will bake her
prize recipe in competition with
100 girls and women from all
pan s of the United States.
In addition to being eligible
for the top prize of $3,000 and
other awords, Patricia will be
given the General Electric
range and mixer she will use
during the contest. Over $100,
000 in prizes are awarded at
he Pillsbury Bake-Off each
Three win libel suit
from Empire, get
$5,001 each
KETCHIKAN (IP) A district
court jury 'has awarded $5,001
each to r.hree former high terri
| torial officials in their $400,
000 libel suit against the Daily
Alaska Empire of Juneau.
The sealed verdict was read
in court shortly after 10 a. m.
it his morning. The verdict was
reabhed at 1:30 a. m. yesterday
after nine hours of delibera
tion.
One dollar was compensatory
damage, and $5,000 was puni
tive.
H. L. Faulikner, counsel for
the defendant, iMrs. Helen Mon-1
sen, former owner of the Em- ;
pire, said the ques ion of an ap- j
peal will be decided after jud- j
gment s entered ond the court
decides on who pays the costs j
Former Gov. Ernest Gruen
ing of Alaska sued the Em
pire for $100,000 actual dam
age and $100,000 punitive dam
age for news stories and edi- i
torial comment which appear
ed in the Empire Sept. 25, 1052
Former territorial treasurer
Henry Roden and former high
way engineer Frank Metcalf
each asked $5*0,000 actual and
$50,000 punitive damages.
At issue was the Empire’s
stories and comment on the es
tablishment of a special bank
account by the Alaska board
of road commissioners to op
erate a ferry service between
Juneau and Haines. The three
men were all members of the
board.
The newspaper’s counsel, H.
L. Faulkner of Juneau, argued
in its defense that territorial
law regarding handling of ter
i ritorial funds is exceedingly
broad and covers such situa
tions as the special ferry fund.
(continued on page four;
year with $25,000 going to the
woman baking the creation
judged best in (.he Senior Divi
sion.
News of her good fortune
was given to Patricia today by
R. J. Zernia, Pillsebury branch
manager for this area, who pre
sented her with a $100 check
and made final plans for her
New York trip.
Patricia will be accompanied
by her mo her, Mrs. Clifford
Wilcox, on her New York visit
Contest rules require each of
the 20 Junior contestants to ibe
accompanied by an adult of
their choice wii.h an all expen
ses paid by Pillsfeury Mills.
She and her mother wiU
leave Nov. 30 for New York
City.
Indians riot over
Nehru's change in
Bombay's status
BOMBAY, India </P) Bombay
seethed in the gritp of a pitched
bantle between armed poliCt
and stone throwing demonstra
tors today. Ten persons were
reported killed, at least 225
wounded and over 1,000 rioters
were arrested.
I: Was the second successive
day of violence touched off by
Marathi-speaking Indians with
communist and socialist back
ing protesting prime minister
Nehru’s decision to create a
Bombay cii.y state out of the
big west coast port.
More than 100 persons were
injured in rioting yesterday.
Gangs milled through the
streets with bulge boulders and
setting fire to buses. The vio
lence exceeded that in last
August’s anti-Pon uguese riots
in Bombay.
Police and home guard forces
first wilted under a barrage
of stones, tihen raised their
rifles and fired at the cornmun
ist-led demons rators trying to
reach the legislature building.
The crowds set fire to three
buses and showered passing
traffic with rocks. They attack
ed firemen called ro fight the
fires.
The battle started after 200,
000 textile workers answered
a strike call and moved out into
>:!he streets.
Marine forecast from Mon
day to Tuesday.
STORM WARNING
A deaping storm centered 225
south of Kodiak island moving
eastward iJhen curving eastsouth
eastward 25 to 30 mph to be
260 miles west of Sandpomt at
6 a. m. Tuesday.
End of warning.
Outside waters Dixon En
trance <io Cape Spencer variable
winds 5 to 15 mph becoming
east to southeast 10 to 20 mpth
this evening increasing to 25 to
35 mph wii h occasional gusts
after midnight.
Pair today, incretsing cloudi
ness this evening and snow
south of Sitka by midnight,