rNews of oAmencas Last Frontier”
VOL. I« No. 31
KODIAK. ALASKA. AUGUST 4, 1956
price io cErtars
Man Shot
Accidently
Gary Neal Routson, 20, of Pesh
astin, Washington, was accidently
killed in a shooting accident which
occurred Tuesday at Port Wake
field. He died about 6:30 p. m. fol
lowing the shooting, which occur
red at 5:13 p.m. The victim was
shot by a companion, Lee Wake
field, 15. Both were employees oi
the Cannery located there.
A Coroner’s jury brought in the
verdict that Routson was accident
ly shot by young Wakefield, as
the latter was examining a .22 cal
ihre revolver, which he had taker
from the wall of the victims room
According to Lee's testimony, he
was not familiar with the gun in
question, and in fact, knew very
little about guns. He was attempt
ing to release the chamber to de
termine if the revolver Was load
ed. He pulled back the hammer,
which slipped from his finger. The
gun was loaded with .22 short bul
lets, and the ipipact of the ham
mer caused it to fire.
Routson was seated on his bed,
about six feet from Wakefield. An
autopsy performed by Doctors A
Holmes and Bob Johnson reveal
ed the bullet struck tfee yiptim; in
the upper part of his chest, ifcavel
led downward, and was deflected
to his heart. In his testimony;
Lee said Routson jumped to his
feet, put his hands to his chest,
and exclaimed “ow,” as he walked
out of the room. The shock of the
report glued Wakefield to the
spot on which he was standing
and presently Gary returned. He
soon slumped over and fell to the
floor.
! Routson was picked up by Jack
Moss, foreman at the cannery, whe
also acts as corpsman in emergen
cy cases. He had been quickly no
tified, and came into the room ae
Routson collapsed. He then laid
him on his bed, and on checking
his heartbeat, concluded he was
UTtfU.
Other witnesses, including Tom
Henry McNully and Kenneth Jones
17, all testified to a similar story
Hie latter was in the room at the
time of the accident, as was Tom
McNully, who was standing in the
doorway. Neither actually saw the
shot fired. Both men are em
ployees at the Cannery,
j Dr. J. W. Heftry, Lieutenant al
the Naval Station, and a doctor
attached to the Station hospital,
was called in as a witness. He ac
companied Lt. Don Loose, pilot of
the CG plane which brought the
victim in. Henry stated the bullet
entered the body of the slain man
from a high angle. He substantial
ed the findings in the autopsy. He
gave it a$ his opinion, as did all
witnesses, that the shooting was
an accident. He said young Lee
was suffering from a state of
shock, as he broke the news tc
him that Routson was dead.
Deputy Marshall Edward Dolan
flew over from Anchorage to in
vestigate the case. The inquest was
held before U. S. Commissioner
Mabel Fenner Thursday afternoon
Those appearing on the jury were
Jim Brightman, Jake Foley, Tony
Reed, Bill Criss, Sig Digree and
Emil Knudsen.
Police Arrest
2 Car Thieves
Chief Roland Vickery believes
a theft ring operating in Kodiak
for some time, has been broken,
following the arrest of two youths,
who are now lodged in the City
jail. Three cars, and a consider
able quantity of automotive equip
ment has been recovered.
The equipment Consists of tires,
tubes, batteries and accessories.
Numerous complaints have come
in from the Island Lake area by
residents, who have reported the
theft of automotive equipment.
Most of the stolen property has
been identified, and returned to
the owners.
The two youths, Eugene Colbert
and Robert South, are teen-age
servicemen. They are now in the
City jail awaiting trial.
Chief Vickery doesn’t feel the
two youths were the only ones in
volved, hut is quite certain the
ring has now been broken.
Grand Matron Here
Is House Guest
Mrs. Florence A. Plummer of
Fairview Village, Pennsylvania, is
the house guest of Mrs. Helen
Seleen. Mrs. Plummer is .Most
Worthy Grand Matron of the Gen
eral Grand Chapter, Order of the
Eastern Star. She is on an official
visit to Eastern Star chapters in
Alaska.
She supervised a special meet
ing of th« b.E.S. last night and
will hold a school of instruction
tonight. A number of social af
fairs are being held in her honor
during her five day visit here, and
will culminate with a banquet at
the Masonic Temple Sunday eve
ning.
Mrs. Clark Injured
On Mountain Climb
Mrs. Basil Clark was injured
while on a mountain climb Thurs
day with her husband. The Clark’s
had driven to Saltery Cove and
were climbing Saltery Cove Pass
about 3:45 p. m., when Dorothy
slipped on the ice and fell, break
ing her ankle.
Basil went at once to the CB
camp about a mile away to get
help. A call was made to the Na
val Station for assistance in evacu
ating Mrs. Clark. Frenchie Deve
reau and Nick Galenas returned
to the scene of the accident with
Clark, carrying blankets in which
they wrapped Dorothy.
A Marine rescue party, includ
ing two hospital corpsmen, arriv
ed at 11:00 p. m. with a stretcher,
after chopping their way through
thick underbrush. They carried
Dorothy approximately 1% miles
to the waiting ambulance
Upon arrival at the Naval Sta
tion Infirmary at 1:00 a. m., X
rays were taken which showed
the broken bones. Mrs. Clark was
then taken to Griffin Memorial
Hospital in Kodiak for further
treatment.
The rescue party was led by
Sgt. Faulkner and included Cpl.
Huckins, Pfc. D. A. Smith, Sgt.
Cohoon Cpl. Hamm, Pfc. Trout
wein, and Corpsmen G. A. Woold
ridge and C. H. Kaser.
Polio Shots
Given Today
Polio vaccine will be administer
ed today and next Saturday, Aug
ust 4 and 11, at the Health Center
to all children who received their
first shots at the clinic held in
June and July. The clinic will be
held from 10 a. m. to 11 a. m. on
both days.
Following these two clinics a
third clinic will be held on Satur
day, August 18 from 10 to 11 a m.
for all children, ages 1 to 14 who
have not had two shots of the vac
cine. Polio vaccine for the 10 to
14 age group was recently released
by the Alaska Department of
Health. Parents of children eligi
ble for polio vaccinations can ob
tain them either from their phy
sician or at the Health Center
clinics held monthly. Local phy
sicians have donated their ser
vices for these clinics.
The Alaska Polio'Advisory Board
recommends that no third shot or
“booster” be given until first and
second shots have been given to
all Children through 19. The vac
cine should be used as rapidly as
available until every child has this
protection from polio. Best results
Come from vaccinating before out
breaks ,oecur., Parents are urged
not to delay obtaining the vaccina
tions for-their children.
There is every assurance that
the vaccine is entirely safe. Since
revised Federal safety standards
were adopted in the spring of
1955, some 10,000,000 children in
1955 alone have received the vac
cine with a perfect safety record.
Statistics show that paralytic polio
was cut by at least 76% in vac
cinated children, as compared with
those receiving no vaccine. The
vaccine gives protection by caus
ing a child to develop polio-fight
ing antibodies in his bloodstream.
Enough antibodies prevent the
polio virus from causing paralysis.
Three shots of the vaccine are
needed, the second shot being
given 4 to 6 weeks after the first,
and the third, or "booster” much
later. If a child’s second shot has
been delayed for some reason, the
effect of the first is not lost, and
the second should still be given,
regardless of the lapse in time.
Persons desiring further infor
mation regarding the vaccine it
self, or the local program, are
urged to contact Mrs. Jeanne
Clough, Public Health Nurse at
the Health Center, phone 4731.
Harold Stover
To Tour Europe
Harold Stover will leave Kodiak
tot Europe Sunday, August 20. He
plans to visit the Scandinavian
countries, flying first to Oslo Nor
way.
On arrival in Norway, he will
be met by Mrs. Ragnar Hansen.
They will then make a tour of
Norway, Sweden, Denmark and
Germany. Following that, they
plan to return to Kodiak, arriving
here early in September.
Harold is an ARC employee, and
works with his brother, Paul, who
is. superintendent here for the
agency.
Fire Destroys
Project Home
Fire occurred at the home o)
Mr. and Mrs. Buster Richardson
Monday about 12 noon. The house
which was almost completely de
stroyed before it was brought un
der control, is in the Aleutian
Homes area.
The fire, believed to have been
caused by a defect in the. heating
system, occurred shortly before
noon. One truck responded. After
battling the blaze for fifteen min
utes, the City’s second..fire truck
was brought to the scene. The
heat from the fire was extremely
intense, and there was constant
danger of spreading to adjacent
houses. The two on either side
were dampened with water, and
were only partially scorched.
The Richardsons lost all their
furniture and personal belongings.
Their son Wallace, 11, was the
only one home at the time. Hei was
in the kitchen preparing lunch,
when a neighbor noticed smoke
coming out of the register. On
opening the closet in which is
housed the hfeating tonit-i' Smoke
and flames shot out.
Little Wallace attempted to
carry out his mother’s new port
able sewing machine, but found
it too heavy. Mrs. Richardson had
just purchased it. It was never
used. No insurance was carried
on any personal effects.
The Richardson’s cat ran under
a bed as the fire started and was
burned to death. Ervin, 18, an
older son, was at the Scout Camp
on the Naval Station, at the time
of the fire. Mrs. Richardson is em
ployed at the Doghouse, and was
at work, as was Mr. Richardson.
He is employed on the Naval Sta
tion, and also drives a cab in
town.
This is the first fire of any "con
sequence that has occurred in the
Aleutian Homes area, according
to officials of the project. The
Voluntary Fire Department, unde;
Chief George Magnusen, brought
the fire under control in twentj
minutes. Location of the house was
at 1190 Circle Drive.
KEA Officials
To Go To Palmer
Two officials of the Kodiak Elec
tric Association, Manager Ole
Johnson and Eldon Lester, Presi
dent of the Board- of Directors,
plan to leave for Palmer next
Wednesday.
They plan to attend the Alaska
Rural Electric Co-op Association
convention which will be held in
that city.
Chiniak Man Dies
Auburn Meyer, worker at Chin
iak, for S. S. Mullen & Co., died
Thursday noon of a heart attack
The Sea and Rescue department
at the Naval Station were alerted
at 11:53 a m. Dr. A. W. Stevensor
of the Station hospital, took ofi
with Cmdr. D. Oliver, who piloted
a CG plane to the project, and ar
rived there shortly after.
Meyer was examined, and pro
nounced dead at 12:08. His home is
located on Route 2, Edmunds
Washington. > >
Along The
Waterfront
The calm waters to be seen ad
jacent to Kodiak this past week
are indicative of the fishing in
dustry as a whole in these parts.
Reports of fishing in all the areas
in and around Kodiak, all run
about the same—no fish.
The local canneries have had a
few spasmodic spurts of activity.
King Crab Cannery had two half
days of canning. Its mighty quiet ,
at Island Seafoods. The Eskimo,
as reported elsewhere, was bring,
ing in 8000 for canning when she
ran aground. '
Halferty’s canned one or two
days, but Frank McConaghy states '
that the poor showing of f ah.is
about the worst he has seen here.
They are busy down at the Can-1 .
nery installing a fish flue, which ,
will take the fish from the buckets, !
and transfer them to the canning
line. Enough water is brought up
in the buckets as the fish are haul
ed from the boat, to keep the sal
mon flowing,down the flue, which 1
is built on ah incline. Looks like ;
a clever idea. Frank reports his !
wife is due *10 today.
Very few boats dot the water- 1
front. Standard Oil dock is very ;
quiet, as most of the fishing boats ;
are lying at anchor near the fish- i
ing grounds, jack Hinckel at the
Union Oil Dock reports the same -;
not much activity.
Over.- at Alvine and Gibsons,!
Stan Alvine has gone to the States
due to an emergency, and Mrs. Al
vine is over at Woody Island as
sisting in preparations for the
camp to be held there. There’s not
much activity at the boatworks, as
all work on boats is complete.
Tender Aground
Off Cape Barnabas
Tragedy struck the cannery tend
er “Eskimo,” when the boat ran
aground early Tuesday morning in
a heavy fog off of Cape Barnabas
The four crew members escaped
uninjured to shore.
The Cape is located on the northr
east shore of Sitkalidak Island.
The Eskimo was skippered by Cap
tain Frank Landahl, and was on
lease to the Island Seafoods here,
from the Washington Fish and
Oyster Company. The tender had
aboard about 8000 fish when she
went aground, and was on her
way to Kodiak when the mishap
occurred.
Besides Capt. Landahl, crew
members aboard included his wife,
who was cook aboard, Robert
Rank, engineer, and T. K. Beeston,
deckhand.
The Eskimo, hampered by heavy
fog and darkness, went off its
course. The fathometer, having
burned out, the boat went aground
in a turbulent sea about 1:30 a.m.
A fishing boat, the "Alexander,”
fishing in Sitkilidak St-aift;, came
to the rescue, and took two of the
crew to safety. It then returned a
second time and stood by.
Chuck Turner, Superintendent
at Port Bailey, arrived on the
scene with his airplane. Otto Ol
son, Superintendent at the Cah
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