22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
62nd Year No. 93NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1961Per Copy 15^
Border Guard and FBI Agent Foil
Attempt to Hi jack 707 Jet Airliner
By Bill Richardson
EL PASO, Tex. <#> — An itin-'
erant car salesman and his son
who hijacked a jet airliner caused
a national furor that reached
to the White House and Congress.
There were demands today such
crimes be punished as stiffly as
piracy on the high seas.
Leon Bearden, 38, a convicted
robber; and his son, Cody, 16,
who held 10 hostages at gunpoint
for nearly nine hours Thursday in
a Boeing 707, were bound over to
a federal grand jury under bonds
totaling $200,000. Bearden had
served time in Arizona and Cali
fornia prisons.
After getting orders from Presi
dent Kennedy not to deal with the
hijackers, Border Patrol men shot
the tires from the $5-million Con
tinental Airlines plane as it roll
ed toward takeoff. It had landed
here when the pilot told the Hi
jackers he did not have enough
fuel to take it to Havana as di
rected.
Leonard Gilman, an Immigra
tion Service agent who formerly
was a college boxer, finally knock
ed Bearden down and an FBI
agent subdued the son.
Bone-Breaking Wallop
Bearden had allowed FBI mer
aboard as the hostages left tht
plane. Gilman, a passenger-hos
tage, remained behind. Wher
Bearden dropped his eyes a mo
ment, Gilman with one bone
breaking wallop knocked him tc
the plane deck, his cheek spurting
blood. Gilman’s broken hand was
placed in a cast later.
Many Congressmen at first in
correctly believed the latest hi
jacking was another work of Cu
ban agents of the Fidel Castro
government. That led to a pro
test today from Prime Minister
Castro to the United Nations Se
curity Council. The Cuban note
accused the U. S. government of
using the incident as a pretext
for preparing military aggression
against Cuba.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
said in Washington the elder
Bearden in January had visited
the Cuban Embassy in Mexico
City and indicated a desire to go
to Cuba. But the general feeling
in Washington appeared to be
the Cuban government had no
part in the latest U. S. plane hi
jacking.
The hijacking of Continental’s
FAA Advises Airliners
To Lock Cockpit Doors
WASHINGTON Wl — Why
haven’t cockpit doors on Ameri
can airliners been secretly lock
ed so hijackers could not get
in?
Well, explains Federal Avia
tion Administrator Halaby, this
has been a “peaceable country.”
He indicated that until fairly re
cently it was not thought es
sential to guard against violent
invasion from the passenger com
partment.
In the first place, many cockpit
doors are flimsy — light alumi
num frames with plastic in be
tween. Sometimes they have been
left open for considerable periods.
Sometimes they have been locked
and the key left in some obvious
place like the galley.
Now the Federal Aviation Agen
cy is advising that they be kept
locked from the inside and rein
forced with substantial barrier or
bolt.
—w
! Los Angeles - to - Houston flight j
came 20 minutes from El Paso on
Texas’ far western tip.
Bearden and his son, entered
the cockpit behind two steward- i
esses.
“We’re going to take this plane
to Cuba,” the elder Bearden told
Capt. B. D. Rickards, the plane s
i commander. “Alter your course
45 degrees to the south.”
Rickards, a veteran of 34 years
flying, alerted El Paso Interna
tional Airport, with a code word
that the plane was hijacked. Then
he persuaded Bearden that the
plane had too little fuel for the
Cuban flight and that they must
\ land at El Paso to refuel.
Richards said Bearden told him
there were four armed men on
the plane and the captain so mes
saged the El Paso airport. This
caused some confusion for a time
and also caused two of the hos
tage crewmen, mistaken for pi
\ rates, to be roughed up as they
! alighted.
Carried 67 Passengers
The plane carried 67 pas
sengers, including two gunmen,
■ and a crew of six. Among the
passengers was Gilman enroute
on official business to Browns
ville, Tex.
When Capt. Rickards persuad
ed the Beardens to allow the pas
sengers to disembark, Gilman
volunteered as one of the four
who would stay aboard the plane.
Then as Continental’s ground
crewmen stalled with refueling
I the plane, the younger Bearden
j and his father became nervous.
i They wanted to exchange the big
| Boeing 7C7 for a DC-6. The com
I pany offered a DC-7.
But from Washington, mean
I while, came the message from
Kennedy. Stand firm, the mes
| sage said.
Inside the big jet, the younger
I Bearden suddenly accused every
(Continued on Page 3)
Pr esident Urges Congress Provide
Stiff Penalties for Plane Hijackers
WASHINGTON UR — The Ken- |
nedy Administration urged prompt
passage today of legislation to
make airline hijacking punish
able by life imprisonment and >
provide stiff penalties for other
crimes in the sky.
Najeeb Halaby, Federal Avia
tion Administrator, said such leg
islation is needed to meet the
menace of “air drunks, flying
fools and spies in the sky.”
He testified at the start of hear
ings by the Senate Aviation Sub
committee in the wake of the at
tempted hijacking yesterday of
a Continental Airlines 707 jet.
Leonard Gilman, a Border Pa
trolman who floored one of the
hijackers with a crashing blow
of his fist, also was called to
testify. The punch by Gilman,
one of those held hostage by two
gunmen after the plane was set
down in El Paso for refueling, set
up the final recapture of the
airliner.
The FAA Chief said the problem
of hijacking of airliners and other
crimes aloft is not “a local mo
mentary thing.”
Naming the three threats to se
curity in the air as the simple air
borne drunk, the flying fool, and
the spy in the sky, Halaby said
the proposed legislation would
bring to bear against them the
Alaska Steam Charters
Additional Liberty Ship
SEATTLE UP — The Alaska
Steamship Co. has chartered an
additional Liberty ship to help
move the Alaska salmon pack
south to Puget Sound.
Alaska Steam took possession
of the SS Olympic Pioneer from
the Olympic Steamship Co. Last
night. The ship will sail today to
load canned salmon resulting from
unexpectedly good runs around
Kodiak Inland. She is scheduled
to call at Alitak, Chignik, Larson
Bay and Uganik as well as Cor
dova.
The Olympic Pioneer is a Seat
tle ship laid up recently for lack
of business. She supplements
Alaska Steam’s regular fleet of
14 ships.
U.S. Freighter ani
Soviet Tanker Collide
GIBRALTAR UP) — The Amer
ican freighter Janet Quinn and a
! Cuban-bound Soviet tanker col
I lided in thick fog west of this
British naval base Thursday.
The Russians charged the 7,233
ton freighter deliberately rammed
the large tanker — the 17,597-ton
Trud as part of the economic
blockade of the Castro regime
The American vessel came out the
worst in the crash.
Both the Janet Quinn and the
tanker were damaged but made
Gibraltar harbor under their owi
steam. No casualties were re
ported aboard either ship.
The Soviet ship was holed ir
its forward tank, above the water
line. Tank was empty.
| The American ship was holed
j in two places and taking water
| when it reached Gibraltar. There
| also was some damage to the
bridge.
A correspondent for the Soviet
Trade Union paper Trud, who was
reported aboard the tanker, made
the accusations against the
freighter in a dispatch to the of
ficial Soviet news agency Tass.
FBI, Border Patrol, the FAA, and
other federal agencies led by the
President.
No longer, he said, would these
menaces to air travel be confront
ed only by “a defenseless girl,
a pre-occupied crew, or local
police.”
Halaby said that last month, in
reaction to hijackings, the FAA
first directed airlines to lock
cockpit doors on all flights cap
able of reaching Cuba, and later
on all flights.
He said he believes the air car
riers intend to take steps to tight
en cockpit security, but noted
that one difficulty is that the
doors can be crashed by a heavy
man.
Yesterday, after the latest at
tempted hijacking, FAA author
ized the airlines to arm crew
members if the men have re
ceived recent training in the use
of firearms and are proficient in
handling them.
Halaby said today the FAA
does not want untrained men with
guns in the cockpit and the au
thority to arm crew members is
only permissive.
Also, he said, the FAA has au
thorized the airlines to put armed
guards in the passenger cabin.
John C. Carroll, first vice pres
(Continued on Page Four)
Senate Votes a
Record Money
Bill for Defense
WASHINGTON W — The Sen
ate today voted a peacetime rec
ord-size $46,848,292,000 tor de
fense.
The huge appropriation bill em
braces President Kennedy’s re
cent urgent requests for nearly
$3.5 billion to expand and equip
the nation’s conventional fight
ing forces.
And it includes nearly a billion
dollars that Kennedy did not ask
—and may not spend—to continue
production and development of
powerful jet bombers and main
tain and equip reserve and Na
tional Guard forces.
The bill now goes back to the
House for consideration of Sen
ate increases of more than $4
billion.
The House had approved the
annual defense money bill June
28, well ahead of the mounting
crisis over West Berlin and be
fore Kennedy’s appeals last week
to the nation and the Congress to
toughen the combat forces.
Biggest Senate addition to the
House bill was the $525 millior
to maintain production of heavj
long-range jet bombers, t h <
. latest model of the B-52.
> It also earmarked $448 millioi
! to press development of the hugi
. Jet B-70, designed to fly thre<
times the speed of sound and b<
an eventual successor to the B-52
Authority also is included foi
the President to spend the bil
lions without regard to usual re
strictions, if he or the Congress
j later declares a national emer
; gency.
The Senate struck from the bill
numerous x'estrictions the House
had approved, including limits on
travel funds, on flight pay for
militax*y pilots, and on hire of
vehicles.
The Senate bill would permit
2,743.965 officers and enlisted
personnel in all the armed serv
ices and 1,072,965 in the reserves
in pay status by next July 1.
Mail to be Trucked
To Alaska on
Experimental Basis
WASHINGTON UP* — The Post
Office Department has awarded a
contract for a mail run, four times
a week, between Fairbanks and
Seattle on an experimental basis,
the Alaska congressional delega
tion said yesterday.
The contract with Garrison Fast
Freight, Anchorage, calls for the
service over the Alaska Highway
to start Sept. 1. Terms were not
disclosed.
Trucks are to leave Seattle at
12:01 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday and reach
Fairbanks within 96 hours. Trucks
will leave Fairbanks within 30
minutes of the arrival of the
northbound truck.
The trucks will carry all sur
face mail except air and first
class mail. The latter goes to
Alaska by air on a space-avail
able basis.
During the one-year experi
mental period, the service will
include mail for Fairbanks and
points serviceable through that
city. Results of the trial will de
termine whether the service will
be expanded.
Soviet Helicopter
Believed Landed
■N ear Gam hell
FAIRBANKS UP> — A Russian
helicopter is believed to have
landed on St. Lawrence Island
near Gambell last week, fired off
several flares, and then took off
again, but Air Force officials
of the Alaska Air Command deny
any knowledge of the landing.
The report filtered to Fairbanks
through Wien Alaska Airline
employes who were in contact
with the Wien agent at Gambell.
The Gambell agent, Winifrid
James, relayed the news to Pete
Walsh, Nome agent, that the heli
copter landed on Troutman Lake,
a short distance from the village,
last week.
The helicopter is believed to
have come from a large Russian
freighter that was reportedly
standing by 15 miles offshore un
loading cargo into smaller boats
in the Bering Sea.
Air Force officials at Elmen
dorf claim that although they
have been informed of the land
| ing, they have not been able to
i verify it. They said a U. S. Army
j helicopter was in that vicinity
! doing some work July 20 and the
! helicopter the villagers saw could
,; have been that one.
1 Walsh, however, said that the
11 helicopter landing he referred to
, j occurred since that date.
' j James said the Russian freight
' er offshore last week was the
largest he had ever seen and it
! had helicopters flying overhead.
Gambell, located on the north
I west tip of St. Lawrence Island
j is about 50 miles from the coast
j of Siberia. It is believed that there
I is a large Russian military in
I stallation directly across the sea.
The only U.S. military installa
tion on St. Lawrence Island is at
Northeast Cape, on the other end
of the Bering Sea island.
U.S. Delegation Arriving
In Uruguay Receive Jeers
From Castro Supporters
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay UP) —
Jeers from supporters of Fidel
' Castro greeted the United States
delegation to the Hemispheric
Economic Conference today on its
arrival. The American delegation
landed a few minutes ahead of
the Cuban representative, Ernesto
Guevara.
About 2,000 fans of the Cuban
Prime Minister jammed the bal
conies of Carrasco International
Airport to welcome Guevara.
The airliner bringing Treasury
Secretary Dillion and the other
members of the U. S. group ar
rived first, however, and the pro
Castro forces’ intended cheers
turned to jeers when they real
ized the airliner was from the
United States and not from Cuba.
Shouts of “Fuera Yanqui” (Yan
kees Out) greeted the Washington
delegation. Some of the Castro
supporters turned their backs
when the American plane taxied
by.
WEATHER FORECAST
Cloudy with occasional rain and
fog today and Saturday. Little
change in temperature.
In the past 24 hours: highest
temp. 50, lowest 42. Sunrise at
3:17 a.m., sunset at 8:59 p.m. Pre
cipitation .01 in. — total for the
month 3.95 in.
A year ago today: highest temp.
58, lowest 49. Extremes on this
date since 1907: highest 69 in
1914, lowest 30 in 1910.