itka
entine
Home-Owned Newspaper
and The ARROWHEAD PRESS
Member of The Associated Press
19c a Copy
VOLUME xvn
Friday. December 23, 1955
NUMBER 19
Missing paratrooper walks
out of Cascades unaided
Determined to see
his wife and
children again
by Elmer C. Vogel
EASTON, Wash. (JP) S*gt.
John Horan’s feet were (blis
tered and swollen. He was
weary and cold beyond belief
of endurance. But there was
the road, and an inn, and two
man.
“They looked up and I knew
everything was going to be all
right.*’
And that was the way the
25-year-oild paratrooper (from
Maynard, Mas*., described the
hurt moments ef the longest
four days he ever spent —
four days in snowclad Cascade
Mountain foothills into which
he plunged on a parachute
from a temporarily disabled
ylcM.
The story he told of his fight
for survival was an ©pic com
bination of pluck, luck and
training. Plus a determination
to aee again his Japanese wife
Terufco, and their r.hree small
children who landed in Seattle
Tuesday from Jalpan. She had
beta waiting at Ft. Lawton in
Seattle since being told her
husband was missing. It was
•there she received the news he
had been found.
It was Sunday afternoon a
feoiit 1:30 p. m. when he jump
ed from an air force C45 on
the pilot’s orders. The plane
had gone into a flat spin at
12,00-0 feet. Horan bailed out
at 10,000 and the plane right
ed itself before others aboard
had to jump.
# For the second year in a
now the people of Eureka have
been visited with a catastrophe
jtl#. *t Christmas time. Last
yetf it was a quake and this
time aeeere Hoods.
—1—f-~
9 We were informed this
noon that there is sufficient
etedrical energy to li'gjht up
your trees both inside and out
side. So be prepared for the
contest inspection tomorrow
evening ( just after dark).
§ Miracles still happen. The
sefif-rescue of that soldier from
the snows of the Cascades can
%e classed with those “happ>
ending” stories which haipper
*tpo seldom.
“I saw a small clearing,” he |
recounted from a cot in a!
roadside inn 75 miles east of
Seattle. “It was covered with
deep snow. I landed very
good.”
He began hiking, sinking o
his hips time after time in
snow eight feet deep. All night
he floundered through the
drifts until he spotted a cabin
in the woods, at a point about
I four miles south of where he
had landed.
“My legs ached. My feet
were numb. And I was hun
gry,” he recalled.
Inside tue cabin he found
some matches and s jar ted a
fire. He found some cocoa, the
I (continued on page sixteen)
Arrest Dr John
i
on suspected
treason charge
j KARL.SHUHE, Germany (ff)
; Dr. Otto John was formally ar-1
rested 'by West German auth
orities today on a charge of sus
pected treason. The turn-coat’
former intelligence chief had
been under “voluntary” deten
tion since his surprise return
Dec. 12 from communist East
Germany.
Federal proseeuj or Garl Wei
chman, wrho announced the ar
rest, confirmed previous reports
John claimed he was uncon
scious when he was taken to
East Berlin in July, 1954. Wei
chmann said this claim was
“unbelievable.”
The prosecutor said federal
investigators will have to de
termine whether John could be
charged with other offenses,
pari icularly whether he divul
ged state secrets to the com
munists. John reportedly has
insisted he did not disclose any
such secrets during prolonged
quesl ioning in East Germany
and Russia.
Weiohmann said that the
Bonn authorities did not
charge that John defected with
i he intent to commit treason.
The prosecutor explained that
the charge of suspicion of trea
son was based on the belief
that John must have known
that the communists would at
tempt to pry secrets from him. j
Weiohmann denied reports
that John h^d been told before
his return to the West that he
could come back without any
risks. The federal prosecutor
also denied that the interior,
ministry had advanced know- J
ledge of John’s plan to re-de
ifect.
LOW FOR WINTER
CHALKED UP TODAY
A low of 4 above zero was
registered on the thermometer
of the Coast & Geodetic Sur
vey sta.ion here early this
morning, breaking the previ
ous low temperature for ithis
winter.
With continued clear skies,
old-time residents are forecast
ing the record low of minus 8
degrees pegged in the mid-40's
might well be broken in Feb
ruary or March — which tra
ditionally are the coldest
months in ithe area.
Flood area in north
California not a
pretty sight
Editor’s Not: Frank Brown
of ra#dio RHUM at Eureka, in
northern California, gave a dra
matic story of flood condi ions
to the Associated Press at San
Francisco via “ham” radio to
day. His story follows:
toy Frank Brown
EUREKA (7P) Many houses,
some with helpless people in
them screaming for help, have
floated down the rain-swollen
Eel and Klamath rivers.
I hesitate to say how many
houses actually have gone down
the rivers, but I would guess
between 70 and 80. They in
cluded a 12 unit motel.
There are reports of three
persons drowned'—two men and
a women in the Weott area.
I want to tread lightly in cal
culating how many people have
been lost, but: there are reports
of persons seen yelling from
floating houses.
A sheriff’s deputy told me
he saw two men going by on a
log and yelling for help. No
one knows what happened to
them.
rtiooui a mmion ooara ieet or
lumber were swept away yes
terday at the lumber town of
Scotia.
Three buses were reported
missing in the Eureka area,
but it could not be learned whe
ther they were in serious trou
ble.
I estimate 3.000 cows were
lost and there were jams under
bridges. It definitely is not a
pretty sight and is reminiscent
of a Mississpiip river flood.
The food situation does not
appear bad. Most people who
fled to higher ground took sup
plies with them.
At Klamath Glen residents
went into a grocery store and
took all the supplies they could
carry. It was just as well, be
cause the store later collapsed.
The next issue of the Daily
Sitka Sentinel will be Tuesday
— Monday is a holiday.
Flood damage mounts; death
toll unknown as rains still fall
flood area spreadsj
south to Santa Cruz
east to Reno, Nev. j
SAN FRANCISCO (JP) Dev- j
astating floods spread soui:h of
San Francisco to Santa Cruz
and east to Reno, Nev., today,
bringing the known death toll
to nine in northern California;
and three in Oregon.
Santa Cruz, a resort city of
22,000 reported three dead, 12
missing and 300 to 400 as vic
tims of exposure.
The rain-laden Truickee Riv
er swelled over its banks in
Reno, cutting the city in two
and starting a rampage of
damage in the downtown sec
tion. There were no immedi- j
ate casualties reported there. |
Gale-driven rains continued ’
beating the coast from Oregon j
southward, feeding gorged riv j
ers that alredy have smashed j
five villages into nibble.
San Francisco police today
received a direct message from
police of Santa Cruz, 75 miles
south of San Francisco, listing
the casualty toll and saying:
“Santa Cruz in dire need of
Peron source of
trouble in
Paraguay
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina
(/P) A broadcast today from a
secret radio station apparently
located in southern Paraguay
called on the .people of that
country to prepare for “a real
fight for freedom.”
The broadcast was heard at
Resistencia, an Argentine city
on the Parana river near the
Paraguayan border. It said:
“These savage conflicts be
tween Epifanio Mendez Fleitas
and (president Alfredo Stroes
sner are only to decide who
will give /the best protection to
Peron, whose agents have con
verted Asuncion into their base
of operations.”
Mendez, president of the Par
aguiayan Central Bank and a
close friend of ex-president
Juan D. Peron of Argentina,
was ordered arrested Wednes
day when Stroessner’s govern
ment thwarted a revolt plotted
by some cavalry units and the
Asuncion police.
Reliable sources said Men
dez led the revolt because he
was (being purged from the top
top ranks of Paraguay’s ruling
Colorado party.
help. 300-400 exposure victims
need blankets and help.”
Water began seeping thro
ugh sandbag barricades at the
Riverside Hotel in Reno, head
ing into the casino, bar and
lobby. Barricades at the Mlapes
Hotel, on the north bank of
the Truckee, were still hold
ing an hour after the river
spilled over, covering a 150
yard wide area through the
area between First", street and
Mill street.
Thousands of workers who
live on the south side of the
river were cut off from their
jobs as .all traffic across Re
no's eight bridges were closed.
In Oregon, colder 'tempera
tures stopped the melting of
snow in the mountains. Only
moderate rain fell this morn
ing. The South Umpqua River
dropped nine feet at Roseburg
overnight. Conditions in the
hardest hit areas were improv
ed, but seven buses still were
stalled at Granits Pass.
Five villages stricken in the
northwest corner of California
lay empty. Their residents had
fled from waters rising from
a record week of storms.
The comimuniities were: Pep
perwood. Elinor. Weott, Kla
math Glen and K'lamat h all on
the raging Eel and Klamath
Rivers which pouf into the
Pacific high on California’s
north coast.
Earlier in California six
persons had been reported
dead. Two women and a girl
drowned yesterday in Placer
county in eastern California.
In the northwest section two
persons were reported dead in
Humboldt county and one in
Del Nori e county.
Heavy rains and winds were
(continued on page fifteen)
French pledge more
soldiers to deal *
with Algiers revolts
ALGIERS UP) Killing and vi
olence continued in Algeria
today as France pledged 60,
000 more soldiers to deal with
the situation. That will prdb
(continued on page sixteen)
Marine (forecast from Friday
to Saturday.
Outside waters Dixon En
trance to Yakuts t easterly
winds 15 to 25 m/ph.
Partly cloudy.