Home-Owned Newspaper
and The ARROWHEAD PRESS
Member of The Associated Press
VOLUME XVI
Friday, October 7, 1955
NUMBER 211
Rescue teams battle wind
snow to reach crash victims
#
66 die in nation's
worst commercial
air disaster
LARAiMtIE. Wyo. (7P) Climb
ers battled high winds and
deeip snowdrifts today to re
trieve bodies of 66 persons
killed yesterday on a 1-2,005
Ifoot mountain peak in the na
tion's worst commercial air
line crash. *
Officials said it would be
late this afternoon before the
first bodies could be brought
down to a base camp.
The climbers included rescue
teams from the Universities of
Colorado and Wyoming, from
Lowry air force base in Den
ver, Warren air force base in'
Cheyenne and members of the
Wyoming National Guard.
They Were accompanied by1
ipostoffice and railway express:
inspectors who hoped to re
cover some of the mail and
packages carried fey the ill
fated plane.
The sun shone brightly and
the temperature was 35 de
grees when the first group
started for the scene.
Their goal was the near-'
perpendicular south face of
Medicine Bow Peak, where a
United Air Lines DC-4 crash-'
ed within an hour after leav- j
i-nig Denver for Salt Lake City
and San Francisco. The flight |
originated Wednesday night!
in New York City.
Rescuers who struggled
through deep snow and up the
pretoipitious peak yesterday j
counted about 50 bodies before!
rising winds and darkness forc-|
ed their retreat. They descend:
ed to a base camp slightly more
than a mile from the tragic
scene. !
The big four engined plane
carried a crew of three and 63
passengers, including 17 air
force inductees and two in
fants.
Among the dead were five
women members of the Salt
Lake Tabernacle choir, which
V eatchcombfng
• Taint fair: — After grow
ing the most luxurious beard
in Sitka, being ordered on a ten
day field trip. But then Vern,
Art is trying to let some of the
rest of us have a chance at the
beard prizes! i
• Lots of news about why
iwe should celebrate Alaska Day
and about beards and costumes
— but when, where and how
seem to be missing and we only
have ten days to the 18th.
• If that friend of mine keeps
stalling around the way he did
in Fairbanks — maybe, just
maybe — he will be here for
Alaska Day.
—|—|—
• Wouldn’t Eisenhower be in
a heck of a shape if he had to
get the Democrats to agree with
his policies to stay in office the
way Faure of France does.
recently concluded a concert
tour of Europe.
The toll exceeds the nation’s
previous commercial air disast
er record otf 58 killed is the
crash of a Northwest Airlines
DC4 in Lake Michigan on June
24, 1950.
The worst air crash of any
type was an air force C-124S
transport near Tokyo on June
IS. 1953 in which 129 perished I
Me.'j. Gerald Downey of the
Yyoming civil air patrol and
state patrolman Ben Butler,
both of Laramie, were among
the first at the scene. They
said the craft struck about 50
or 75 feet from the top of the
peak. Exploding oil and fuel
left two huge scars on the
granite wail helping a swarm
of military and civilian search
planes to spot the wreckage.
The toll, first set at 64, later
was increased to include the
two infants.
Petition asks court
for rehearing on
ISC seasonality
JUNEAU (fP) The Alaska at
torney general’s office filed a
petition with the 9th circuit
cour of appeals in San Francisco
yesterday for a rehearing in the
Fidalgo Island Packing Co. sea
sonality case involving $650,000
in territorial unemployment
compensation funds.
On Sept. 13, the San Francis
co court affirmed a ruling by
the first district court here
which declared the employ
ment commission was not em
powered to set a restrictive per
iod for salmon cannery employ |
raent durinjg which employees!
could draw unemployment com]
pensation.
The effect of the rilling
makes cannery employees eli
gible for compensation during
the months they normally are
not employed by the salmon
canning industry.
Legal problem
faces governor in
filling vacancy
JUNEAU <7P) Gov. Heintzle
inan has moved to fill the con
stitutional convention vacancy
created by the recent death of
delegate-elect Sen. Howard
Lynig of Nome, but there’s a
knotty legal problem involved.
The governor said he has
been advised by the attorney
general to certify the'person
who received the greatest num
ber of write-in votes. There’s
the complication. It involves a
man who has the high vote for
two seats.
Lynig was elected to a seat as
a delegate at-large for the 2nd
division (District 9). It was a
race in which there were only
four candidates for. the four
seats to be filled.
Until last week it was ge
lieved M. J. Walsh of Nome,
who received three write-in
i (continued on page four?
Sgt. John Whannell
injured today
'Sgt. John Whannell, main
tenance man for the local ACS
station, suffered burns to an
arm this morninjg in an accid
ent at the transmitter station
at the edge of town.
He was taken to Mt. Edige
outmi'oe hospital for treatment
and the exact extent of the
burns were not known at press
time.
Sgt, Whannell came to Sitka;
the first of September fromi
Seattle to replace Sgt. Walter;
Caton in the maintenance posi-j
jtion for the local ACS station.!
Freatcb minister of j
defense leaves for 1
Morocco inspection
PARIS UP) Gen. Pierre Bilk
otte, new minister of defense j
to premier Edgar Faude’s cab-1
inet, flew off to Morocco today '
to try to salvage the govern
meat's reform program for the ;
strife ridden North African pro
tectorate. He might be able to
assure the survival of the gov- ;•
eminent, if he can get jome
quick action.
Billotte was named defense*
minister yesterday, to succeed j
Gen. Pierre Koenig. This morn*
ing, after news of Billotte’sj
mission to Morocco was an-;
nounced, his party—the Social
and Republican Action group,
a De Gaullist splinter faction—
asked him to resifgn under the
threat of expulsion from the
party. Billotte denied the re
quest.
The party also has expelled
1 Pierre July, minister for Tunis
ran and Moroccan affairs, who
had a b;|g hand in drawing up
the government policy.
Koenig, outgoing defense
minister, was one of four mem
hers' of the De Gaullist Social
Republican party to step out
j of the government at Faure’s
! request because they could not
jgive wholehearted support to
| the Moroccan reform plan.
The national assembly's de
bate on Moroccan policies re
sumed today with a long list of
orators on deck. If Faure is to
; win the vote winding up the
j debate — and he must win if
| he is to stay in power — it is
i generally believed he must pro
dace some kind of evidence
’hat his Moroccan program is
joeing put into effect.
! Billotte has been dispatch
I ed to produce this evidence.
Israel charges
Egypt with new
guerrilla warfare
JERUSALEM, Israel Sector
(A3) Israel charged today that
Egypt has initiated a new
round of guerrilla warfare and
charged that ilf Egypt has in
itiated a new round of guer
rilla warfare and declared that
if it does not stop Israel will
take all necessary steps to pro
teat hersef.
A foreign minitry spokes
man charged that “Egyptian
war acts in the course of the
past few weeks represent a
■ further stage in Egypt’s hostile
' policy aimed at destroying Is
i rael.
Eisenhower makes plans for
conference with Sec. Dulles
Foreign policy
matters to 'is aired
before Geneva
DENVER (rP) President Ei
senhower will hold a hospital
conference on foreign policy
matters with secretary of state
Dulles next Tuesday. It will
be the president’s first discus- j
sion of policy problems since
he suffered a heart attack.
White House press secretary
James C. Hagerty announced
today that Dulles.will arrive in'
Denver Monday night from
Miami, Fla., where the secre
tary has a Speaking engagement j
that day. He will see the pre
sident sometime the next day,'
with the hour dependent on
word from Eisenhower’s phy
sicians.
The announcement came as
doctors at Fitzsknons army hos
pital put out another encour
aging bulletin on the presid
ent’s condition. They said at
mid-morniinig that he was con
tinuing to progress satisfactor
ily without complications.
Early tomorrow morning the
chief executive will pass the
0. $, marine killed
m flood relief duty
in Mexico
MEXICO* CITY (/P) The
first death was reported today
among U. S. relief forces keep
ing flooded Tamipieo alive. Re
ports from the gulf coast port
said a rescue launch from the
destroyer Bassett overturned
3"'1 a marine was drowned. ,
The marine’s identity was
withheld. The only other new
death reported in the city was
a suicide, a merchant appar
ently despondent over his pro
perty losses. By unofficial
count.* 326 others have died in
the hurricanes and floods in
the Tamipieo area.
The Panuco River, after a
month oif hurricane and rain
spawned flooding, dropped a
few inches. Barring more rains
over the river’s inland water
shed. the fall was expected to
accelerate sharply in a few
days. i
imt new tnreats oi ram me
and water shortage develops'
ed in Tampico, its above-wat-j
er blocks jammed iby the city’s
110,000 population and 55,000;
to 70,000 refugees from the;
1 surrounding coastal plain.
| A conference of federal, i
■■ state and local officials an-!
nounced Tampico had drinking
water for only another 24
hours, that the city was with
out bread, flour, salt, sugar
and other necessary foods, and
that medical supplies were
still in short sulptply.
Food was stacked high on
the airport outside the city,
but washed out highways and
bridges keot much of it from
reaching the 16 or so- blocks
still above water in the heart
of the city. Four U. S. army
1 amphibious vehicles arrived by
i air from Pueblo, Colo, to shut
! tie supplies.
crucial two weeks milestone a
long the recovery road which
he has been traveling without
complications from the time of
his Sept. 24 heart attack.
The decision to let Eisenhow
er meet next week with Duties
for the chief executive’s first
discussion of policy matters
since he was stricken reflects
the steady progress that he has
been making. 9
Eisenhower and Duules will
discuss, among other things,
the Geneva conference of Big
Four foreign minister opening
October 27.
Hagerty stressed that the
matters to be discussed there
fby Dulles and other minis
ters have been under study for
weeks, so that the president
was thoroughly familiar with
them before his heart attack.
Vice president Nixon is also
arriving here tomorrow for a
visit with the president, but
Hagerty has said that no con
troversial subjects will be dis
cussed at that brief meeting.
Utah governor will
refuse to pay his
income tax in 1955
SALT LAKE OITY (JP) Ut
ah's Gov. J. Bracken Lee an
nounced yesterday he will re
fuse to pay at least part of his
income tax this year.
Republican Lee, now in the
third year of his second term
as governor said he’s taking
the stand because he thinks “it
is unconstitutional for this na
tion to tax its citizens for the
support of foreign nations.”
| And for the fourth straight
year he refused to proclaim
Oct. 24 as United Nations day
; in Utah. Instead, he said he
will [proclaim Oct. 23 as Uni
ted States Day.
Lee said he will refuse to
pay income taxes on personal
income over and alfcove his guib
ernatorial salary, from which
the tax already has been with
held so far this year.
Lee elaborated on his tax
fighting plan in an interview
after he announced lit at a
meeting of the American In
stitute of Mining and Metallur
gical Engineers.
Lee said he is taking Ms tax
action to “awaken the Ameri
can people.”
“If I should debide that we
should appropriate a couple of
million dollars for the people
of Nevada, I’d be run out of
office because the Utah con
stitution says it’s illegal.” he
siaid.
“Yet the restrictions of the
U. S. constitution are even
greater than the state eonsrti
fcontinuer! on page four)
Marine forecast from Friday
to Saturday.
A strong pressure gradient
will cause winds of 30 to
south to southeast winds
miph south to southeast
20 to 25 mph by morning over
outside waters Dixon Entrance
to Yakutat.
Showers today. Rain tonight.