FARTHEST WEST NEWSPAPER
IN THE 50 STATES"
64th Year No. 99
NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, AUGUST
19, 1963
Per Copy 150
Two Small Boys Cause
Ferry Taku to Crash
Full Speed Into Dock
PETERSBURG l/P> — Two small
boys aboard the Alaska ferry Taku
were blamed today for an accident
which wrecked landing facilities
here Saturday night.
Merlin Needles, port captain for
the state ferry system, said the
boys darted into the wheelhouse,
slammed the controls ahead and
ran.
The Taku, tied up with engines
idling, was about to cast off when
the controls were tampered with.
She surged forward, twisting and
breaking two 75-foot steel coun
terbalance towers and dropping
the 180-foot ramp into the water.
James Cole, whose company
built the landing ramp and towers,
estimated repairs would take about
2Vz months at an undetermined
cost.
Needles said damage to the
Taku was comparatively minor
and probably would not exceed
$4,000. There were no injuries.
Rescue Workers Find
Three Miners Alive,
Trapped Since Tuesday
HAZELTON, Pa. tft — Rescue
workers lowered soup, medical
supplies, head lamps and a re
quested cigar today to three coal
miners trapped since Tuesday near
the bottom of a 400-foot shaft.
“We’re all okay,” shouted David
Fellin, 58, one of the trio, after
a six-inch drill broke through into
the gangway where the men fled
after the main shaft walls collap
sed.
Contact was made just before
midnight Sunday after they vir
tually had been given up for dead.
The next step is to bore a 28
inch hole to bring the men out.
It took 22 hours to drill the
six-inch shaft.
The mine is in the heartland of
the anthracite coal mining area.
Underground, as one expert has
put it, the land is like a piece of
Swiss cheese —honeycombed with
cal shafts.
Pilot Bob Jacobs Missing
On Flight To Betties
FAIRBANKS UP — An Anchor
age pilot and a Fairbanks hunter
today were the objects of two sep
arate searches by the Civil Air
Patrol.
The pilot, identified as Bob Jac
obs, was reported missing on Fri
day flight in a Cessna 180 from
Betties to Tanana.
He was reported to have flown
to Betties from Umiat on the
Brooks Range’s north slope.
The hunter was identified as
Wayne Mahanney. He was report
ed missing Sunday near 88 mile
on the Steese Highway.
Jacobs operates a flying ser
vice in Anchorage it was reported.
Z. J. Loussac Suffers
Mild Stroke In Seattle
SEATTLE UP — Z. J. Loussac,
81, former mayor of Anchorage,
was reported improved today after
suffering a stroke at his home here
l^ast Friday.
Loussac’s doctor described the
stroke as mild. He reported it af
fected Loussac’s right side, includ
ing his arm, leg and face.
Loussac is a financier and phil
anthropist. The library in Anchor
age is named for him.
In recent years Loussac has
lived in Seattle but retained busi
ness interests in Anchorage and
spent considerable time there.
Meredith Is First Negro
To Graduate From
Ole Miss In 115 Years
OXFORD, Miss. </P — The white
people stared stiffly ahead, with
out expression. The few negroes
in the audience watched somberly
in small, self-conscious groups.
Except for a few glances, nei
ther group seemed to look at the
other. Together, under the tall
oaks, they sat in awkward silence
and watched what neither had ever
seen before.
James Howard Meredith, a
slight man of 30, became the first
negro to graduate from the Uni
versity of Mississippi in its 115
year history. Without incident, he
received what some are calling the
$5 million diploma, that being the
estimated cost of the soldiers and
U.S. marshals it took to get and
keep Meredith at Ole Miss.
The scene Sunday bore no re
semblance to the night he entered,
last Sept. 30, in an explosion of
violence and death. Few people at
the graduation were aware of the
16 marshals standing inconspic
uously on the fringes of the crowd.
Moses Meredith, a tall, sol
emn man whose father was a slave,
said of his son’s graduation, “I'm
proud to see a man get an edu
cation. That’s all he ever asked
for.”
n-imosi to uie ena, lviereaun s
graduation was resisted by Gov.
Ross Barnett of Mississippi, who
led the original resistance and was
cited for contempt for defiance of
a federal court order. Barnett, a
few days ago, was trying to have
the negro expelled from Ole Miss
for violating a university order
against “inflammatory” state
ments. The attempt failed.
On Sunday, James Meredith,
holding a Bachelor of Arts degree
in political science from the Uni
versitp of Mississippi, became a
fellow alumnus of Barnett.
Two Air Force Bombers
Collide Over Iowa
IRWIN, Iowa ^ — Two Air
Force B-47 medium jet bombers
collided in the air over this west
ern Iowa farming community to
day and plunged to the ground in
flames.
A spokesman at a nearby hos
pital said two crewmen were dead
on arrival, and four others had
been admitted for treatment.
Strategic Air Command head
quarters said the bombers each
carried a crew of three, the nor
mal complement.
Witnesses said up to six para
chutes were sighted seconds after
the bombers met above a cloud
formation.
First reports indicated the
wreckage fell in fields and wooded
areas, and not on any occupied
dwellings.
Parents of Boys
Assessed $500
JUNEAU l/P — The parents of
two boys who admitted throwing
the engines full speed ahead while
the ferry Taku was docked in
Petersburg Saturday night causing
considerable damage to the dock
were assessed $500 for each of the
boys in magistrate’s court here this
morning.
The boys, 10 and 15, admitted to
state police they were responsible
for the act.
Being minors their names were
not released. State police said how
ever, they were traveling with
their parents who are from San
Diego, California.
The $500 assessment is the max
imum allowable under Alaska law.
Bear Kills Anchorage
Man Mining Near
Manley Hot Springs
FAIRBANKS tP — A prominent
Anchorage resident was killed by
a bear Friday at his mine near
Manley Hot Springs, about 160
miles west of here, state police
learned Sunday night.
Dead is William (Bill) Strand
berg, about 55, a member of a
pioneer Alaskan mining family
and a former president of Greater
Anchorage, Inc.
Strandberg is the third man to
be attacked by bears in this area
in as many weeks. He is the first
fatality.
First reports of the incident,
radioed to state police here by Gus
Benson, deputy magistrate at Man
ley, indicates Strandberg was at
tacked by a bear while moving
mining equipment in the Eureka
Creek area.
Strandberg was working at the
mine with his brother, Harold,
who is a state representative from
Anchorage and chairman of the
House Finance Committee.
The Strandberg brothers oper
ated Strandberg Mines, Inc., at
Manley Hot Springs.
William Strandberg was born at
Flat, now an Alaskan ghost town.
Capt. Merkley Retires
Again From Alaska
State Ferry System
KETCHIKAN UP — Capt. Mait
land M. Merkley bowed out of the
Alaska ferry system today and
will resume the retirement he left
to help launch the Alaska Marine
Highway System last January.
Merkley turned command of the
Matanuska over to Capt. Andy
Hansen of Seattle last night after
tieing up the newest vessel of the
fleet.
He plans a short vacation in
eastern Oregon to compensate for
the many weeks he worked on
the ferries without relief.
Merkley said he told Director
Greg Mangan of the Division of
Marine Transportation that he
would be on call “to help if you
get stuck but I sure hope you
don’t.”
The veteran mariner has about
50 years at sea behind him. He
stepped out of retirement and had
what he called the privilege of
bringing all three vessels of the
system to Alaska. |
Russian Trawler Makes
Repairs In U.S. Port
PROVINCETOWN, Mass. UFI —A
Russian fishing trawler and a sea
going tug took refuge in the calm
waters of Provincetown harbor
yesterday to make repairs to the
luge fishing boat.
The Coast Guard said the fish
ing boat broke a propellor blade
and sought calmer water while
the screw was replaced.
The tug, with its own divers,
nade the repairs. No one came
ashore, according to port author
ities.
A large fleet of Russian craft
have been fishing of Cape Cod for
several days.
Richard Barthelmess, Silent Movie
Star, Dies at Age of 68
SOUTHAMPTON, N. Y. Ut) —
Richard Barthelmess, 68, matinee
idol of the silent screen era, died
Saturday in his summer home at
this Long Island resort.
Death was attributed to natural
causes. He had been ill for some
time.
Some of his best known motion
pictures were “Broken Blossoms,”
'Way Down East,” “Tol’able Da
vid” and '‘Patent Leather Kid.”
Police Have 15 Sets
Of Fingerprints
In Great Train Robbery
LONDON W) — Scotland Yard
experts, studying 15 sets of finger
prints found at the farm hideout
used by the great train robbery
gang 10 days ago, hoped today that
the prints would identify more of
the men who got away with S7.28
million.
The prints were found in build
ings at isolated Leatherslade Farm
at Oakley, the gang’s hideout 18
miles from where the Glasgow
London mail train was held up.
Police hoped they would match
prints in the Yard’s criminal rec
ords.
Other possible clues included: a
Monopoly set, a card game usually
played with stage money but be
lieved used by gang members play
ing with their banknote loot while
they waited in their hideout to
make their getaway.
—A house in a respectable dis
trict of London where, detectives
were told, 12 men began holding
night meetings behind darkened
windows last March.
--Five men sought for question
ing because they have been ab
sent from their homes since the
robbery.
—A trail at nve - pouna bank
notes in St. Helier, Jersey, one of
the Channel Islands.
—A suitcase and a briefcase
found stuffed with $282,520 in a
Surrey wood last Friday.
—A second - hand black Austin
Healy sports car, found in a park
ing lot where it had been left by
a drapper man and a plump pock
marked woman.
The couple bought the car for
$2,338—all in five-pound notes —
the day after the robbery.
$10 Million Libel Suit
Goes To Jury Today
ATLANTA LP — Attorneys con
cluded arguments today in Wally
Butts’ S10 million federal court
libel suit against the Saturday
Evening Post which stemmed from
a football game fix article last
March.
William Schroder, counsel for
the former University of Georgia
coach and athletic director, told
the jurors the Post had set out on
a muck - raking policy two years
ago and a verdict for millions
should be handed down for his
client.
Post attorney Welborn Cody said
if the jurors believe that Butts,
ihrough a telephone call to Ala
bama coach Paul Bryant before
lie 1962 Georgia-Alabama game,
tad tampered with it, they should
dismiss the suit.
“If there was tampering with
:he game in advance then the de
fendant company has proved a
:‘ix,” Cody said.
Asking a $10 million judgment,
Schroder said: “If you let them
aut for $5 million or less I may
be next on their list or you may
be next. They don't care about
Butts and they don’t care about
you and me. Somebody has got to
stop them.”
PRESIDENT AUTHORIZES
PAN AM TURN JUNEAU
ROUTE OVER TO WIEN
Sen. Pearse Walsh received a
phone call from Sen. Bob Bartlett
in Washington, D.C., this morning
stating that President Kennedy
has signed the certificate which
transfex-s the Juneau - Fairbanks
route of Pan American to Wien
Airlines. He stated that this will
be returned to the Civil Aeronau
tics Board for finalizing.
Cen. Power of SAC
[Opposes Trej
| Ratification
WASHINGTON UP — Gen. Tho
mas S. Power, chief of the Strate
gic Air Command, Monday op
posed ratification of the limited
nuclear test ban treaty.
Gen. Curtis E. LeMay. Air Force
Chief of Staff, supported ratifica
tion but said that if the treaty
were still in the proposal stage, “I
think I would recommend against
it.”
Other members of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff supported ratifica
tion in public testimony with Le
May to the Senate Foreign Rela
tions Committee.
Power, who is under LeMay and
responsible for delivery of nuclear
warheads by missiles and heavy
jet bombers, told a closed session
of the Senate Preparedness sub
committee that the treaty “is not
in the best interest of the United
States.”
ity
ben. John Stennis, chairman of
the subcommittee told newsmen
Power testified “he had less con
fidence than others that the United
States can or would maintain its
present undisputed superiority in
nuclear power if it ratified the
treaty.”
“Gen. Power believed this is the
only present deterrent to war,”
Stennis added.
All of the military men made
clear, however, that their support
for ratification of the treaty was
conditioned on the safeguards that
Gen. Maxwell Taylor, chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had out
lined in testimony last week.
The support of the treaty, be
fore a joint public hearing of the
Senate Foreign Relations, Armed
Services and Atomic Energy com
mittees, is conditioned on compre
hensive, aggressive and continuing
underground weapons testing per
mitted under the treaty.
In addition, they said it is based
on maintenance of modern nuclear
laboratory facilities and programs,
a state of readiness to resume at
mospheric testing, and improved
facilities for detecting any viola
tion of the treaty and maintain
ing knowledge of Sino-Soviet nuc
lear activity, capabilities and ach
ievements.
As the hearings moved into their
second week, Senate Democratic
Leader Mike Mansfield said he ex
pects the Senate to ratify the
treaty “with a few extra votes.”
Ratification requires a favorable
vote of at least two-thirds—66 if
the 99 senators are present. There
is one vacancy since the death of
Sen. Estes Kefauver.
Leaders have predicted about a
week of Senate debate after the
hearings end. A vote is expected
soon after Labor Day.
Propose Ban on Antibiotics
In Cold Cure Remedies
WASHINGTON uR — The Food
and Drug administration is pro
posing a ban on prescription cold
cure remedies containing anti
biotics.
It says a special medical panel
has concluded there is no evidence
that antibiotics have any value in
treating the common cold or its
side effects.
The proposed ban could become
effective in mid-September, after
expiration of a 30-day period the
FDA announced Saturday for re
ceiving comments on the proposal.
WEATHER FORECAST
Continued cloudy with occasion
al light drizzle. Little change in
temperature.