OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
64th Year No. 61
NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1963
Per Copy 150
Armored Car Bank
Guard Makes Off
With $250,000
VANCOUVER, B.C., liP —An ar
mored car driver, described as
“deeply interested in his work,”
was missing today along with a
quarter of a million dollars.
Police charged Douglas John
Brown, 35, Surrey, B. C., with
“theft of over $50” last night sev
eral hours after the Loomis Ar
mored Car Service reported the
disappearance of a half a million
dollars and one of its drivers.
Superintendent of Detectives
Jack Horton estimated the loss at
$500,000, but said $220,000 in non
negotiable checks and $5,000 in
cash was found in a car parked
near the Vancouver International
Airport.
Officers said Brown checked in
at the Loomis headquarters Satur
day night after making collections
with his partner at 48 supermar
kets. The money was unloaded and
the partner left, police said, leav
ing Brown with the unlocked
vault.
Eric Stafford, Loomis district
manager, said it was company pol
icy for the two men to be together
at all times, but that there was
nothing to indicate more than one
person wa involved in the theft.
The loss was not discovered un
til noon yesterday when Brown
failed to report for work. He was
off duty Sunday and Monday.
A neighbor said Brown, married
and the father of four children,
had been employed by Loomis for
‘‘nine or 10 years” and interested
in his work.
FJK Hopes to See Pope
WASHINGTON — President
Kennedy told his new conference
today he hopes and plans to see
Pope John XXIII during his trip
to Europe next month.
130 to 140 Soviet
Fishing Vessels Operating
In the Gulf of Alaska
WASHINGTON W) — The In
terior Department said today there
were an estimated 130 to 140 So
viet fishing vessels operating in
the Gulf of Alaska in late April,
the largest Russian fishing fleet
ever reported there.
The department said 180 to 200
Soviet fishing vessels were oper
ating at that time in the Bering
Sea and north Pacific Ocean, in
cluding the Gulf of Alaska.
The Soviet Union also was said
by the department to be making a
major effort to develop new fish
ing grounds in Davis Strait, which
is west of Greenland, and off the
Laborador coast.
Three large refrigerated factory
trawlers and two research vessels
operated in that area in February
and March, the department said.
Bar Cuban Aircraft
WASHINGTON UP) — Non-sched
uled Cuban aircraft have been
barred from flying over the United
States without permission from
the Federal Aviation Agency.
The agency issued the order
because of three reported crossings
of the nation in the past two
months by Cuban planes bound for
Canada. ,
The rule adopted Monday re
quires civil aircraft of Cuban
registry over the United to operate
only in controlled air space and
under FAA air traffic control
Sen. Gruening Calls
For Dismissal of
Maritime Commission
WASHINGTON UR—Sen. Ernest
Gruening said yesterday action by
the Maritime Commission in grant
ing the Alaska Steamship Co. a 10
per cent rate increase is reason
enough for dismissal of its mem
bers.
Gruening said in a statement
that the latest increase, granted
May 6, brings to 56.4 per cent the
rate boosts permitted the company
since 1950.
Gruening noted that the deci
sion was a reversal of the finding
of the hearing examiner in the
case. The examiner, Gruening
said, held that the increase would
bring a rate of return on invest
ment of 19.35 per cent, far more
than could be justified.
Gruening asserted that “for the
last 40 years or more the regu
latory machinery of American
shipping has favored wholly the
operator and never the public.”
Two Swedes Head Back
Over Pole in Light Plane
ANCHORAGE —Two Swed
ish fliers who made the first flight
over the North Pole in a single
engine plane last weekend, left
Anchorage early today on the re
turn trip.
This time the flight in the Piper
Commanche will be over the tip
of Greenland, enroute to home
base in Stockholm.
Aboard the plane were Sigurd
Hallstrom, 45, a Stockholm real
estate broker and a partner in a
shipyard, and his pilot-navigator,
Olof Ringstand 21.
They left Anchorage Interna
tional Airport at 3:42 a.m., with
Fairbanks as the first scheduled
stop to replace fuel used on the
one-and-one-half hour hop.
From Fairbanks, the pair ex
pected to fly directly to Bodoe.
Norway, crossing the tip of Green
land.
Hallstrom and Ringstrand said
they would stop at Nord for fuel
if necessary, but apparently hoped
to make Fairbanks the last stop
before Bodoe if possible.
The flight from Norway to An
chorage took about 30 hours of
flying time, with a stop at Barter
Island on the Arctic coast for fuel
before the final hop to Anchorage.
80 Degrees in Fairbanks
FAIRBANKS UP) — Fairbanks is
basking in 80 degree temperatures
today and breaking weather rec
ords for this date.
And the interior can look for
more hot weather tomorrow, the
weather man said this morning.
Pope John Suffers New
Severe Setback in Illness
VATICAN CITY W — Pope John
XXIII, reported suffering from a
new severe setback in the illness
that felled him last fall, curtailed
his activities today on doctor’s
orders.
The 81-year-old Roman Catholic
Pontiff canceled his regular week
ly general audience in St. Peter’s
Basilica on short notice. However,
he appeared at his apartment win
dow to bless a crowd of 15,000 in
St. Peter’s Square below.
The Pope stood at the third
floor window about three minutes.
Seen through binoculars, he ap
peared very pale. But his voice,
carried through microphones, was
vibrant and strong as he gave his
blessing.
U.S. and Britain Formally
Commit to Merge Inter
Allied Nuclear Force
OTTAWA OT — The United
States and Britain today formally
committed submarine and bomber
contingents to an emerging inter
allied nuclear force.
U.S. and British officials re
ported that Secretary of State Dean
Rusk and Foreign Secretary Lord
Home announced the commitment
at the first closed session of the
North Atlantic (NATO) Council.
At the same time, Canada’s For
eign Minister Paul Martin told his
NATO colleagues that his country’s
air division in Europe, compris
ing 144 fighter-bombers, also will
be assigned to Gen. Lyman Lem
nitzer, supreme allied commander
in Europe.
Earlier, the ministers heard
Canada’s Prime Minister Lester B.
Pearson appeal for an equal part
nership between North America
and Europe in the direction and
guidance of the alliance.
Pearson addressed the opening
session of a three-day NATO min
isterial session which seeks to
patch up differences over the fu
ture role of nuclear weapons in its
defense plans.
The nuclear force was the main
business before the foreign and de
fense ministers of NATO at their
annual three-day spring meeting.
Ft. Wainwright Soldier
Scales Mt. McKinley
FAIRBANKS UP> — The east
buttress of Mt. McKinley was con
quered Monday by a Ft. Wain
wright soldier and his five climb
ing companions, according to an
Army man and pilot Don Sheldon
who flew over the mountain.
This is reportedly the first time
the east buttress has ever been
climbed.
Pvt. 1st Class Warren Blesser
and companions Jed Williamson,
A1 Reed, Fred Wright, Pete Lev
and Rod Newcomb were spotted
on top of the buttress and within
easy climbing distance of the top
of the mountain Monday.
Blesser is a supply clerk at
Wainwright. Williamson is an Al
askan guide; Reed, Wright and Lev
are guides from Wyoming’s Grand
Teton mountains, and Newcomb is
a guide from Idaho’s Snake River
country.
The six men have been on the
mountain since April 19 when
Sheldon landed them part way up
the slope at the 6,000-foot level.
ALGIERS m — “Ben Hur” has
apparently run his last chariot race
in independent Algiers.
Two Algiers theaters and one in
Oran began showing the film three
days ago. Tuesday they were noti
fied it could not be shown. Un
official sources said it was be
cause the film is judged to be too
favorable to Hebrews for this
Moslem nation.
THEME SONG WANTED
FOR MIDNIGHT SUN FESTIVAL
Special award will be given to
the person who submits a song
selected for the theme song of the
1963 Festival.
Name of Song
Name of Sponsor
Turn in this slip or mail to
Johnnie Reardon or leave it at
the Nugget Office.
Space Officials Lock
Door on Mercury Project
WASHINGTON UPi — U S. space
officials have locked the door
against any more project Mercury
space flights — but have left the
key handy just in case.
“Only a fool never changes his
mind,” said Abraham Hyatt, di
rector of planning and program
evaluation for the National Aero
nautics and Space Administration.
But, he added, “at this moment,
plans are to end the Mercury
program as of now.”
He and NASA chief James E.
Webb spoke at the meeting of the
Rocket Club. Webb said officials
plan to take a “good hard look”
at the data from Gordon Cooper’s
22-orbit flight before the final
decision is made.
“Unless we find a gap in the
information — this will be the
last shot,” he said.
The next space project is Gemi
ni—two-man flight.
Alaska Traffic Deaths Down
JUNEAU —The Alaska State
Police said today Alaska’s 1963
traffic death toll was eight as of
Monday, compared with 11 thru
May 20 of 1962.
Deaths from fires in 1963 thru
Monday were listed at 13 by the
Division of Fire Prevention, com
pared with eight during the same
period of 1962.
I Yukon River Ice Jam
Begins to Break Up
FAIRBANKS UP) — The massiv(
ice jam on the Yukon River thai
has backed up water and floating
ice into the villages of Nulato,
Koyukuk and Galena, has begun to
break up and is relieving the flood
situation. The villages are still cov
ered with overflowing Yukon river
water, but the crest has passed
and the water level is beginning
to lower.
Eight villagers from Koyukuk
were picked up by Air Force heli
copter yesterday. They were
perched on the roof of the village
school house.
The remainder of the Koyukuk
villagers, mostly men and teen
agers, stayed behind to save their
dogs and do what they could to
protect their homes from the high
water and ice.
Flood waters at Nulato crested
early last night. Tuesday morning
the villagers were all on high
ground above the village with
what possessions they could carry
with them. At that time the water
was to the roofs of some of the
homes.
By 9 a.m. today the flood waters
at Nulato had gone down four
feet from the crest mark.
Galena is still covered with
water, but the level continues to
recede slowly, the Air Force said.
Another Taxpayer Heard From
SPRINGFIELD. 111. (A"» — The
Illinois State Journal today pub
lished this letter to the editor on
its front page:
“Today I received in the mail
my personal property tax in the
amount of $39.16. I am only 15
years old and do not even own a
bicycle. I am waiting to pay it
because I want to see what my
sister’s will be. She is four years
old. She owns a tricycle. Carol
Antonacci.”
If you want to live in the White
House, first get married. Only one
batchelor, James Buchanan, and
two widowers, Thomas Jefferson
and Martin Van Buren, were elec
ed to the U.S. presidency.
Millions of
New Yorkers Cheer
Astronaut Cooper
NEW YORK UP Millions of
New Yorkers cheered astronaut
Gordon Cooper today along Broad
way in a tumultuous ticker tape
parade—the city’s salute to nation
al heroes.
A maelstrom of tape, confetti,
and torn paper swirled from sky
scrapers in the city’s tribute to
the smiling Air Force major who
last week orbited the earth 22
times.
The crowd along lower Broad
way alone was estimated unoffi
cially at two million — with miles
more of the city still to be traveled
enroute to a civic luncheon at the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
The cheering sometimes seemed
to verge on the point of hysteria.
Crowds jammed the sidewalks of
the “Canyon of Heroes” and work
ers leaned from office windows,
shouting their acclaim.
Dozens of persons broke through
the police lines, shouting, “Hello,
Coop,” Wonderful job, Coop,” and
“Go, Go, Gordon.”
“This is wonderful, exciting,” he
was heard to remark. “This is
great stuff.”
IThe accolade began when the
spaceman’s airplane landed at La
Guardia Airport from Washington.
The astronaut was accompanied
by his family and Vice President
Lyndon Johnson.
I The 36-year-old major from
5 Shawnee, Okla., told his welcom
ers at the airport:
l “Small-town boys know you are
, indeed a success when you’re in
► vited to a parade in New York
City. It is a great honor and I
thank you all very much.”
Cooper came here fresh from
the cheers of thousands of persons
in Washington, the praise of Pres
ident Kennedy and thunderous ap
plause from a joint session of
Congress.
Astronauts Plug For
More Mercury Missions
NEW YORK UP) — Alan Shep
ard Jr., and the nation’s other six
astronauts, will take their plea for
a 10th mission in the Mercury
space program to President Ken
nedy, the American Broadcasting
Co., said Tuesday.
ABC’s science editor, Jules Berg
man, reporting astronaut Gordon
Cooper's reception in Washington,
said an internal revolution among
the astronauts erupted when a
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration official said last
Sunday there would be no more
Mercury missions.
A White House source who was
with the astronauts throughout the
day said the subject of another
Mercury mission did not come up
at any time. He said he knew' of
no plans for any of the astronauts
to have a further meeting with
Kennedy.
Survives First Test
OTTAWA — Prime Minister
Lester Pearson’s Liberal govern
ment has survived its first test in
the House of Commons, but it
faces more opposition hammering
at its decision to equip its forces
with American nuclear weapons.
The minority government won
a vote of confidence last night 124
113. All three of the opposition
parties joined in the effort to top
ple Pearson, but could not muster
their full strength.