THE NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. 45.—No. 86. NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1943. PER COPY—15c
CURBSTONING
ALONG MAIN
STREET
By JAY RAYMOND
At a meeting of the Alaska
Territorial Guard, held last eve
ning in the high school auditor
ium, Chief of Police and Fire
Marshal Yenney, presented his
views to the members present,
on fire protection activity in the
city.
Ye scribe thinks it pertinent at
this time to present to The Nug
get’s many readers, Mr. Yenney’s
speech in full. It follows below:
“Gentlemen:
“Tonight I am very proud of
this organization. You are an or
ganization bound together to de- j
fend our homes. The cause is a
worthy one and the time you de- j
vote is not lost time.
“So far you have devoted most
of your time preparing yourself
to ward off an enemy from out
side our city limits.
“Tonight I am proud of you be
cause you are interesting your
selves with the enemy within
the city.
“The greatest enemy within the
city that we must give battle to
and one that will be with us
even after the war is over is:
‘Fire out of bounds.’
You have paid men to do your
police work. Their duty is' to pro
t tect the citizens of our town from
lawless elements. As soon as the
war broke out you realized that
the police could not handle an
invasion and you bound your
selves together into this grand
and worthy organization to do
what your police could not do.
You have prepared yourself "to
do this work well.
“Your paid policemen are also
your firemen. Without your co
operation they cannot handle one
part of this work any better than
they can the other.
“I believe every one of you are
willing to help your firemen fight
our worst enemy, 'Fire’, yet how
many of you have prepared ytfvlr
selves for this fight or given it
any serious thought?
“Let me tell you about some
of the fireman’s trouble so you
can answer the question I have
asked:
“Because of the shortage of la
bor we have been short-handed
all summer.
“The Army and defense work
* has taken away some of our vol
unteer firemen. We are also
shorthanded there.
“We still have some volunteer
firemen who know this work
and do it well. Do you know
them? They give their time and
knowledge freely. I wish you
would get acquainted with them
for they are doing you a great
service.
“Nome, for its size, has entire
ly too many fires. I’ll give a few
figures to prove this:
“We have had, during the last
17 months, an average of 4.5
fires a month inside the city.
“Who would think it nec
essary to tell people that the
wasted oil in the grass or rub
bish near the house should be
cleaned up or their stoves kept
clean? We warn them and yet,
we have had six grass fires
caused by careless handling of
t matches.
“Careless smoking habits were
the cause of 10 fires and one
death.
“Improper care of oil stoves
gave us 19 calls, while we had 16
other calls that should have and
could have been avoided.
“People seem to be making so
much money and are so busy
they have become careless and
do not seean to save what they al
ready have. At this time it is
next to impossible to replace any
thing destroyed by fire. There
for there is no great difference:
carelessness or sabotage.
'“Next month I will inspect
over 400 stoves and the stove
pipes. In some places I will ask
that some parts be replaced or
that some precaution be taken.
In some places I will be told that
this is still a free country; at
others the look I’ll get is enough
and I’ll be glad that I am not a
mind reader. Yet the good of the
community demands that the
careless be checked. I hope I’ll
find the stoves in the homes of
(Continued on Page 2)
GERMANS
DROPTONE
OFMORALE
LONDON, Oct. 27.—(AP)—
Troops storming the outskirts of
Krivoi-Rog under the German
command, took the gloomiest tone
toward the Russian front since
Stalingrad.
The apparent effort to stiffen
the public and army alike for the
impending military catastrophe
“large German withdrawal
movement” from the Dnieper
bend, was announced by the Ber
lin radio.
By their own accounts they are
being pounded back from the
Melitopol area all the way up to
the region west of Smolensk.
A great fateful tank battle is
thundering near Krivoi-Rog, the
important iron and steel center,
northward to Krimenchug, as the
Germans attempted to retard the
advance of the Reds.
But even this big counterattack
could do ho more than score a
few isolated defensive successes,
and at a frightful cost, this is
taken to indicate that the Sov
iets are broadening he base of
the triangular salient, driving
do'wn upon Krivoi-Rog the fall
of the city key while still a Ger
man defense of the Dnieper Bend
is imminent.
The spearheads of one Soviet
force northern army great pin
cers is designed to trap those
enemy units still inside the Dnie
per bend, and has already cap
tured Karnovatka, the main rail
center of the Krivoi-Rog area,
on the north bank of the Saksa
hani river, the Russian communi
que said.
FUR SEAL HERD
INCREASES
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27.—^AP)
—The Pribilof Island fur seal
herd, representing 85 per cent of
the fur seals of the world, has
grown to nearly 2,750,000 ani
mals, with a capital value of
about $100,000,000, the Interior
Department announced.
The herd was down to 130,000
when the government took over
the sealing in 1910.
The department announced also
this year that the fur take, now
safely in the - United States,
amounts to 117,664 skins, the lar
gest record of controlled opera
tion, worth $5,000,000 after pro
cessing at St. Louis by the Fouke
Fur Company, federal agents.
When the United States bought
Alaska the herd was estimated at
4,000,000.
The sealing rights were leased
to private firms until 1910.
PRESIDENT
MEETS LEADERS
WASHINGTON, let. 27.—(AP)
—Today for the first time in a
week the President met with
business leaders to discuss tKe
huge quantities in government
food losses, and information lp
garding a bill which extends the
GOC’s life.
The food losses were contrib
uted to rusty cans, flood, weevils,
contamination, J. B. Hutson, OCJC
chief declared. Total damage
amounts to one-fiftieth of one
percent.
INVASION CORNER NO. 1
...
i
>
In iiLs recent speech before the House of Commons. Prime
Minister Winston/Churchill emphasised that the primary aim
of Allied strategy is to strike at the Naais across he chan
nel in occupied France. This map shows he area Where the
story of the “second front” may begin—the coasts at Nor
mandy and Brittany, starting at Le Havre and running around
the Brest peninsula te St Nazaird. This section is within easy
access of supply bases in Britain and could be covered by an
Allied fighter plane umbrella.
THREATS ARE
GIVEN OUT TO
ALLIED AIRMEN
NEW YORK, Oct. 27—(Her
ald-Tribune copyright story)—A
correspondent from Liverpool
said wounded American airmen
were among the exchanged pris
oners, and told of being threaten
ed and spat upon by German civ
ilians, some of whom thought the
American bombers had flown all
the way from the United States.
Private Herbert Ehrich of
Brooklyn, wounded in Sicily July
reported "we had a tough time of
it until we reached prison camp
at Memmingen about 10 miles
from Munich. Along the way we
received only casual medical at
tention, although there were s^ji
ous head and chest wounds, from
exploding mortar shells.”
He went on: “We received ex
cellent medical treatment from
Serbian doctors in the hospital.”
CONFERENCE
BEING HELD
MOSCOW, Oct. 27—(IP)—
Delegates of the Tripartite Con
ference arrived at some of the
most important questions, the
meeting was reported, as the
party moved into the ninth ses
sion.
One of the participants of the
British, United States, Russian
discussions was quoted as taking
an official view, “so far so good,”
but the conference is in no way
near its end. It will probably
continue for some time.
The drafting committee met in
a joint session yesterday and
progress was reported in the
framing of agreements arrive at,
by Hull, Eden and Molotov.
Committee
RECOMMENDS
EDUCATION
, WASHINGTON, Oct. 27.—(AP)
Billion dollar post-war educa
tional program for men and
women in the armed forces, was
recommended by the committee
of educators appointed by Presi
dent Roosevelt, when he signed
the 18-year-old draft bill last No"
Vember.
The federal government to
provide not only educational
costs but financial maintenance
as well.
The committee suggested tui
tion and fees in an approved in
stitution, plus $50.00 monthly to
single persons and $75.00 monthly
to married men and $10 for each
child, to mefet living expenses.
SUBMARINE IS
LOST AT SEA
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27.—(P)
—A submarine runner was lost,
the Navy announced* pye^nm
ably operating in the Pacific
area, where submersibles were
taking a heavy toll of Jap ship
ping. cutting enemy supply lines
to their scattered bases.
This is the 14th sub lost since
the war started.
The runner was 1,525 tons and
was commanded by Lt. Comdr.
Joseph Bourland, age 33.
A submarine runner of this size
carries a crew' of approximately
65.
LEAVES FOR
THE STATES
Charlotte Patterson, well
known business woman of
Nome, has left for the States, for
a well-earned vacation. Accom
panying Mrs. Patterson were her
our-year-old niece Gay, the
daughter of Mrs Harrington.
[JAPANESE AIR
ACTIVITY IN
ATTU AREA
(By NORMAN BELL)
ADAK, Aleutians, Oct. 27.—
(APfi—The resumption of Japan
ese air activities m the Aleutian
area may indicate the increasing
nervousness of the Tokyo war
makers over what new troubles
are brewing for them in the
stormy Pacific.
The presence of enemy planes,
probably on reconnaissance over
Alaska, was disclosed in Navy
announcements of two Japanese
craft being encountered and
driven off this past week near
Attu.
These air contacts were follow
ing the October 13 bombing of
Attu which was carried out by
high-flying bombers which in
flicted no damage, yet escaped ih
the fall of night.
The Japanese are frantically
building defenses m the home
land And ih the Kuriles Islands
against the danger of any new
American thrust along the north
ern shortcut to Tokyo. ParamiY
shiro on Shimusnu. the northern
most island of the Kuriles, is
less than 3 k) miles from Attu,
and has already been raided four
times by the Eleventh Army air
force bombers, since July.
NAVY IS 168
YEARS OLD
WASHINGTON —(Undated) —
Pride in its growing might, and
| the gallant deeds and tears, of
j the ships and men who won’t
come back, and warnings of bat
tles ahead, marked the 168th
birthday of the United States
Navy.
While its warships, submarines
and planes are on the move all
over the globe, all geared to Sec
retary of the Navy Knox’s order
“Seek out the enemy and destroy
him.”
Speakers at home extolled |he
powers and achievements of the
fleet in observance of the day.
“The present conflict,” the
President said in a letter today
to the secretary of the navy, “in
what may seem like huge achieve*
ments of the past will, I am con
fident, be dwarfed by those in
prospect in future achievements
which will restore freedom of all
seas for all nations, and add new
glory to the flag under which all
so proudly serve.”
Admiral King, in an address at
Indianapolis, said: “The Japanese
is still convinced he can wear us
out, with his known long-term
strategy to keep us at arm’s
length, as his most important con
centrations.”
MERCHANT VESSELS
GO AGROUND
BELJMAR,, N. J„ Oci 27*—
(AP)—Four United Merchant
vessels went aground on the
northern New Jersey coast last
night, and early today, in one of
the worst storms in years.
One of the ships was reported
as breaking up. according to the
Third Naval District, but the
other three are believed in no
danger.
The United States Coast Guard
started to remove the crew of
about 70, aboard the 7,900-ton
James Longstreet, which piled up
on Sandy Hook.
S m i
TROOPS
ADVANCE
STEADILY 1
- *
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IS
■ALGIERS, Oct. 27.—(P)—-Along
the Allied front in Italy troopf
were advancing from three to
six miles and have taken fwo
more towns on the Trigno riveg,
but fighting generally has sub
sided as the last German rear
guards pulled back to Mah^fij
in the new mountain line guard
ing Rome, official reports dis
closed.
Air warfare was intensified
and massed at Greek airfields,
and hammering of enemy supply
transports.
In Italy the Nazi troops were
withdrawing to the left bank of
the Trigno river near the Adria
tic coast, headquarters said, and
that Eighth Army units inland
on this flank had captured Civita
in the Campomanara district and
Acquiviva in the Collecrose dis
trict, both towns abotft seven
miles below the river.
American troops to the west
occupied high ground facing Mas*
sico Ridge, overlooking the new
anchorage point on which th«
Germans have established a new
line for themselves, “Mad Dog
Hill” near Raviscanina, and on
another ridge near Francolisg
where the only heavy fighting
took place in the Eighth Army
advance.
The two towns were taken irv
this thick fighting by Canadian
troops who acquitted themselveg
well, according to front line re
ports.
KINCAID TELLS
OF SINKINGS
WSHINGTON, Oct. 27—(AP>
—Vice Admiral Kinkaid, com
mander of the Aleutians area*
disclosed “quite a few” Jap sub®
I sunk by American destroyers,
J while the enemy was being evac
| uated from Kiska.
“We got quite a few, enough
to make it hurt,” he said in ®
press conference in which he.
Vice Admiral Kincaid, and Sec
retary of the Navy Knox ex
plained in Washington, prior tc
taking over his new duties as
commander of the naval forces in
the southwest Pacific, succeed
ing Vice Admiral Carpenter, who
became commander of the Nihth
Naval District with headquar
ters at Great Lake, Illinois, suc
ceeding Rear Admiral Downey
who is retiring.
Admiral Kincaid described howj
the destroyer force shut off Kia
ka, and said “We were very suc
cessful in getting Japanese sub
marines. Hope some o them were
full of evacuees, but I don’t know
for sure.”
The admiral said that he be
lieved the evacuation of the Ja£>
garrison, which was previously
estimated at some 10,000, was
carried out by submarine.
If the Jap* had not given u$i
the island, “heavy casualties’*
might have resulted when Amer
ican troops landed in August.
He added: “When we landed,
we found the beaches much moijp
strongly covered than we dreara
ed.” _ ^ .