Oldest Newspaper In Alaska. “The News of The Dav In Pictures” Member Of The Associated Presa
THE NOME NUGGET
VOL. 43. No. 103. NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, OCT. 31, 1941 P*' Copy \U
Two Airliners Crash In One Day
Army Takes Over Strike-Bound Air Plant In East
, Navy Announces Loss Of First
Warship, Destroyer Reuben James,
Torpedoed West Iceland Last Night
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 </P) —
The Navy announced the loss of
its first warship in the European
war, the destroyer Reuben Jam
es, victim of torpedoing last
night west of Iceland. First re
ports brought no word of pos
sible losses of life. Unlike the
Kearny, which survived a tor
pedo blow amidship on October
17, but with a loss of 11 men
and 10 others wounded, the old
er Reuben James went to the
► bottom. The Navy said she was
convoying in the North Atlantic.
The Reuben James is the third
American warship fired at, the
second hit and the first sunk,
since the President ordered the
Navy, last month, to “shoot on
sight” any Axis warcraft en
countered.
Whether the Reuben James or
any accompanying ships were
able to wreak any damage was
not disclosed. Secretary Knox
said this week that they will pro
bably not. disclose any sub sink
lugs by the fleet, following the
Bntish policy for distrubing Axis
moral by such secrecy. Whether
it was a sub or a surface vessel
or a torpedo carrying plane
which brought the James to
doom was not disclosed.
The ship carried a normal
crew cf 120 men. The command
ing officer was Lt. Commander
H. L. Edward. He is 35 years old
and his home is in San Baba,
Texas. The ship was commission
ed in 1920.
Roosevelt Sees No Possibility
Severing Relations With Nazis
Over Sinking James, Other Attacks
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 iff) —
President Roosevelt said he saw
no possibility of severing diplo
matic relations with Germany and
_ that he thought no change in the
American policy would result
from the loss of the Reuben James
and other recent attacks on Am
erican vessels.
Travelling In
English Convoy
BERLIN, Oct. 31 — If the
Reuben James was participating
.n a convoy, “it is no wonder she
was torpedoed," authorized sourc
es said. It was declared “the con
voy was an English affair and
whoever participates in it becom
es a part of the English form
ation."
“Indiscriminate Sub
Warfare Against U. S.’’
LONDON, Oct. 31 WJ) — Au
thoritative British spokesmen des
eribed the sinking of the Reuben
James as a clear indication that
Germany has declared "indis
criminate submarine warfare
against the United States."
CHINESE ANNOUNCE RECAPTURE OF TOISHAN
Chinese fiield dispatches* announced the recapture of Toishan. tungsten-producing railroad city in
Kwangtung Province, which the Japanese had entered a week previously, and three towns north
west of it. Members of a small Japanese parachute detachment were either killed or driven away
in a landing at Chuchow, important rail junction 30 miles south of bitterly contested Changsha,
according to Chinese military claims.
Two Airliners Crash In 21 Hours
Killing 31 Persons-Worst Day In
U. S. Commercial Aviation History
ST. THOMAS, Ontario, Oct. .31
.i/P) — An American Airlines pas
senger plane flying in a drizzle
from Buffalo Detroit-ward, crash
ed and burned on a farm, killing
three of the crew and 17 passen
gers. The crash came less than
24 hours after 14 died in the
crash of a Northwest Airlines
p ane at Fargo, and with lesser
accidents made the worst day in
the history of United States com
mercial aviation.
Fourteen Die
Plane At Fargo
MOOREHEAD. Minnesota, Oct.
. 30 f/P'—Trapped in fog and mist,
a Northwest Airlines plane crash
ed within two miles of its objec
tive and fourteen persons died
from the impact. Flames immed
iately engulfed the wreckage.
The only survivor was Captain
Clarence Bates, Mineapolis pilot,
who was thrown clear as the big
liner struck the earth a glancing
blow and bounced a hundred
yards then piled up. Bates suffer
ed only shock, but physicians!
would permit no one to talk to
him.
The St. Paul dispatcher said
the last he heard from ihe plane, j
westbound fr tm Chicago to Seat
tle, was at 1:54 a.m. CST, and it
was then over the Fargo airport
descending at 2700 feet, making
a routing instrument approach..
The weather was described on i
the surface as thick with freezing;
temperature. The pilot next!
should have reported when he
sighted land.
The dispatcher vainly tried to
contact the plane at 2 a m. and
ten minutes later the police tele
phoned that the plane crashed
about two miles from the Fargo
airport.
How Bates got out of the in
ferno alive mystified investigat
ors. First noticed by airline and
CAA inspectors was a thick coat
ing of ice on the leading edge
of one wing. This presumably
was formed in the air and not by
water poured on by firemen.
President Orders Army Take Over
Plant of Air Associates, Bendix, j
New Jersey. Due To Labor Dispute
_
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 //Pi -
President Roosevelt ordered the
Army to take over the operation
of the p ant of the Air Associates
at Bendix, New Jersey, declaring
that the labor dispute made the
stoppage of vital defense produc-1
I
tion imminent, also that the com j
pany “failed to carry out its j
part" of recommendations by the!
National Defense Mediation
Board. The dramatic move eli- j
maxed weeks of controversy in
which the CIO struck and amidst
violence the company continued
opertaion. Soldiers were dispatch i
cd from nearby forts earlier to-;
night, _ j
Lewis Announces
UMW Accept
FDR's Proposal
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (/P) -
John L. Lewis announced that
the United Mine Workers will ac
cept President Roosevelt’s propos
al for reopening the strike-bound
captive coal mines and added
that the men will return to work
as fast as arrangements can be
made locally.
CIO To Work
Under 17
Day Truce
WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 iJP) —
John L. Lewis announced that
CIO miners in the Captive Coal
mines owned by the steel com
panies will return to work under
a 17-day truce to allow further
mediation of the dispute which
threatens the nation’s largest
steel mills.
German Steps Up Fury Of 30-day
Drive On M oscow But Russians
Are Declared Holding Positions
UNDATED, Oct. 31 (/Pi — Ger
mayn’s invasion armies stepped
up the fury of the thirty-day-old
drive on Moscow, in two direc
tions. Soviet workers rallied from
factories to fight alongside Red
troops in a bloody series of bat
tles around Tu'a, a hundred miles
south of Moscow. Tass said that
tank-led Nazi forces are driving
hard at Moscow’ northwest flank,
aparently in the Kalinin sector,
05 miles northwest of the capital,
but heavy artillery fire and repeat
cd Red counter attacks are check
ing the German advance to the
west and southwest of Moscow.
Tass reported that Soviet troops
are not only holding their de
fense positions but are improv
ing them in some sa'ients.
On the southern front. Hitler’s
command asserted that the Rus
sians are in full flight under the
assvalt of German and Rumanian
troops, smashing into the Crim
ean Peninsula.
Soviets Throw
Back
& Moscow Fronts
UNDATED, Oct. 30 (/P) — Rus
sia’s armies were credited . in
front line dispatches with throw
ing the Germans back across the
Nara River .some 50 miles south
west of Moscow while on the
southern front Soviet troops are
declared to have won strategic
heights guarding the route to Ros
tov. Tass said the Germans tried
repeatedly to cross the Nara Ri
ver but were beaten back by
counterattacking Soviet troops
who then stormed across the riv
er. Tass said they entrenched
themselves on the south bank un
der heavy fire and slowed down
the offensive against Moscow.
The Germans sent more than
30<D planes in a mass assault ag
ainst Moscow yesterday. The So
viet radio said “it was the big
gest attack carried out so far,
but was exactly as unsuccessful
as all previous raids," adding
that 39 Nazi planes were record
ed dwoned in the big scale aerial
attacks on Moscow, under way
for several days, it was reported.
Hit'er's command was silent on
operations around Moscow but as
sorted that German troops are
now swarming into the upper
Donets River industrial basin on
a broad front from lower reach
es of the Donets River. However,
j the Russians claimed to have
1 stopped the Nazi onslaught and
picked detachments of Hitler’3
Elite Guards are massed around
Rostov “marking time for several
days," and German tanks are
being used as stationary fortress
es in attempts to held gains.
While the Germans advanced
north in the Kharkov sector, it
was apparent that Marshal Titno
shenko is making a supreme
i stand to defend Rostov and thus
prevent the Nazi armies from
turning the Rostov "corner’’
south into the Caucasus.
In Crimea, where the invaders
forced a break through after ten
days of violent fighting, the Nazi
command said the Russian rear
guard resistance was shattered
and German forces ‘‘are relent
lessly on the heels of the de
feated enemy."
Buy Defense Bonds and Stamps
To Consider
Steep Increases
Social Security
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 <VP> —
Secretary of the Treasury Mor
genthau announced that a pro
gram of steep increases in social
security taxes is ready for Con
gressional consideration within
the next two months.
Britons Urged
Leave Jap Terri.
SHANGHAI, Oct. 30 </P) —The
British Embassy in China tonight
urged all British nationals in Jap
anese-occupied territory to leave
ns soon as possible because “of
recent developments." It w'as stat
ed authoritatively that the Brit
ish regard “the political situa
tion in the Orient as having fur
ther deteriorated." The Embas
sy’s action was said taken after
consultation with British officials
in China and authorities in Lon
don.
Josephus Daniels
Ambassador To
Mexico Resigns
WASHINGTON. Oct. 31 UP) —
President Roosevelt announced
the resignation of Josephus Dan
iels as Ambassador to Mexico.
The President said, of all people
at foreign posts in Latin America
for the past 8 and a half years,
he thought Daniels had done more
to encourage living up to the
Good Neighbor policy. Daniels, he
said, resigned on account of the
poor health of his wife
Publisher Of
Seattle Times
Passes Away
SEATTLE, Oct. 31 UP) — C B.
Blethen, publisher of the Seattle
Times, World War artillery offic
er, and widely known clubman,
died here at the age of 62. He is
survived by a widow and four
| sons.