sss NOME NUGGET
_ OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LVIII No. 5 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1956 _Per Copy—15^
Delegates Rush to Finish Drafting
Constitution; 7 Articles Still to Go
By FLORENCE DOUTHIT <
FAIRBANKS, UP) — With two
thirds of their precious time used
up and seven articles still to be
considered, delegates to Alaska’s
Constitutional Convention are in
the midst of a wild rush.
There are 25 days and nights
left in which to draw up a con
stitution for what they hope will
become the 49th state.
The red letter day is Feb. 6,
sometime in the forenoon. Since
Jan. 9, the delegates have been
working a 13-hour day, from 9
a.m. to 10 p.m. In the last eight
days, they have completed consid
eration of five of the 11 substan
tive articles of the constitution.
Rushed by not panicky and un
willing to sacrifice second
thought for the sake of speed,
most of the delegates still are try
ing to give each issue careful con
sideration, no matter how many
time - consuming amendments to
, amendments this involves.
One school of thought, held by
a few, is that committee reports
on the various articles should be
accepted pretty much as they are
presented.
“Quit hacking away at it,” say
proponents of this view. “Let it
go the way it is.”
But this is only a voice in the
background to delegates who
(Continued on Page Two)
John Gilbert Graham To
Be Tried For Sanity
Despite Psychiatric Report
DENVER, Iff)—An Alaskan has
been listed as a prosecution wit
ness in the case of John Gilbert
Graham, for whom a jury trial
is to start March 5 to determine
is he was sane last Nov. 1 when
he is accused of dynamiting an
airliner that hurled his mother
and 43 others to death.
The number of prosecution wit
nesses was raised to 150 when
Dist. Atty. Bert M. Keating en
dorsed another 57 persons who
will testify for the state.
They include Rinehard Hablut
zel of Spenard, Alaska, Graham’s
brother-in-law. He has not been
mentioned in the case before.
Trial of the 23-year-old defend
ant on his plea of innocent by
reason of insanity was ordered
yesterday at request of defense
attorneys despite reports of four
psychiatrists that Graham was
sane at the time he is accused
of putting a bomb in luggage
placed aboard a United Air Lines
plane.
Gen. Geo. A. Acheson
Assigned New Command
ANCHORAGE—Maj. Gen. Geo.
R. Acheson, commander of the
Alaskan Air Command, will de
part early next month for a new
assignment as commander of the
Middletown Air Materiel area at
Olmstead AFB, Middletown, Pa.
The announcement this week by
Air Force headquarters comes as
General Acheson approaches the
three year mark of his command
of all air operations in Alaska.
A successor to General Acheson
has not yet been named by the
Pentagon.
f-;— --—
Four Missionaries’
Bodies Found In
Ecuador Jungle
QUITO, Ecuador, t/P—The ar
rival of a ground search party at
a campsite in rugged Auca In
dian country was awaited today
to identify four bodies believed
those of missing American mis
sionaries. There was no report on
a fifth missing evangelist.
A U. S. Air Force helicopter
crew — which remained at the
scene — repoi’ted finding the
bddies last night.
A search for the Protestant
missionaries began last weekend
after they disappeared in an area
on the eastern slopes of the Ecua
dorean Andes, where they sought
to Christianize the Auca tribes
men.
Members of the missionary
party were Peter Fleming, Seat
tle, Wash.; Nathaniel Saint,
Huntingdon Valley, Pa.; James
Elliot, Portland, Ore.; Edward
McCulley, Milwaukee, Wis., and
Roger Youderian, Lansing, Mich.
Entries in Fleming’s diary,
found at the base camp, indicated
the missionaries were lured to
| the river by signs of friendship
from some of the tribesmen.
They apparently were seized Sun
day just after radioing: “Here
comes a group of Aucas we have
not known before.”
Dulles Seeks The
Help Sen. George
On Foreign Policy
WASHINGTON, (^P)—Secretary
of State Dulles sought today to
settle difference with Sen. George
<D-Ga>, a potent critic of Dulles’
new long-range foreign aid plan
under a shower of pot shots at
administration foreign policy.
George, chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee and
spokesman for most congressional
Democrats on international af
fairs, was invited to lunch with
the secretary.
In advance, however, George
said he is “not going to vote for
any 10-year program or any
other long-term commitments.”
On at least the general idea of
strong new emphasis on foreign
aid, Dulles got strong backing
last night from Dean Acheson,
Democratic former Secretary of
State, but Acheson tore into the
administration’s performance on
most phases of affairs aboard.
Acheson lashedsout at what he
called the conduct of foreign re
lations by “hucksterism.” He said
it would be hard to find any area
in the world in which “events
have not moved to ou: disadvan
tage in recent years.”
The evil of “hucksterism,” the
Truman Secretary of State said,
is that it glamorizes a product to
cover up its failures.
“This is the era of the huck
ster,” Acheson said. “If we go on
as we have been doing we’ll come
to the ultimate slogan of “weak
ness is strength’.”
FBI “Breaks’*
Brink Robbery
BOSTON, OP — Joseph “Specs”
O’Keefe, 47, one of 11 men named
by the FBI as perpetrators of the
fabulous $1,218,111 Brink robbery
six years ago, went into Suffolk
County courthouse under heavy
guard to tell a grand jury what
he knows about the nation’s big
gest haul.
Dist. Atty. Garrett H. Byrne
told newsmen he would first ad
dress the grand jury himself.
Asked if he got a full state
ment from O’Keefe last night,
Byrne made it clear he could not
disclose — except to the grand
jury—anything O’Keefe said. The
appearance of O’Keefe before the
grand jury is the only hint thus
far as to how the case was
broken.
Byrne said he would ask for
indictments against 10 individ
uals, six were taken into custody
yesterday by the FBI in swift
raids, two others are still at
large. O’Keefe and another man
are serving prison terms. The
llth member of the group is
dead.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
yesterday announced “solution”
of the case.
None of the loot was recovered.
Within hours of Hoover’s an
nouncement, the six newly-ar
rested men were arraigned before
a federal commissioner and held
in bail totaling $670,000.
New Eiglit-Man
Board Will Review
CIA Activities
WASHINGTON, —President
Eisenhower today created an 8
man board of “outstanding citi
zens” to review “the foreign
intelligence activities of the gov
ernment.”
The President said the new unit
will deal particularly, but not
excusively, with the work of the
Central Intelligence Agency.
The announcement said the
board was being established with
the full approval of Allen Dulles,
CIA director, and at the recom
mendation of the Hoover Com
mission for government reorgan
ization.
Eisenhower named James R.
Killiam Jr., president of the
Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology, as chairman of the board.
In addition to Killian, Eisen
hower appointed to the board:
Adm. Richard Conolly, presi
dent of Long Island University,
Brooklyn, N. Y., commander of
the World War II task force
which captured Guam.
Lt. Gen. James H. Doolittle, of
World War II Tokyo raid fame.
Benjamin F. Fairless of New
York, director of the United
States Steel Corp. finance com
mittee.
Gen. John E. Hull, former com
mander of U.S. forces in the Far
East and now president of the
Manufacturing Chemists’ Assn.
Joseph P. Kennedy of Boston,
former ambassador to Great Brit
ain.
Robert L. Ryerson, chairman of
the executive committee of the
Inland Steel Corp., Chicago.
Early Days of Nome Are Subject
Of 11-Page Saturday Evening Post
Article By Mrs. Klondy Dufresne
- —- «
Nation’s Airways
Become Crowded
And Dangerous
WASHINGTON, UP) — The air
ways are becoming so crowded
and are so inadequately regulated
a special government advisory
group said today that airliners
have brushes with death an av
erage of four times daily.
“Even more dangerous condi
tions in the air can be antici
pated . . . unless some urgent
action ... is taken to provide
full-time high-level leadership to
the problem of bringing our avia
tion facilities in line with air
traffic growth and the progress
being made in aircraft develop
ment,” the study group said.
The eight-man committee was
headed by William Barcley Har
ding, New York investment bro
ker who is a private flyer.
The “urgent action” which the
committee recommended is the
immediate appointment of a fig
ure of national renown to head a
complete review of all aviation
problems and to draw up a mas
ter, 20-year plan for integrated
development of aviation facilities.
A section of the report on air
operating problems said a recent
study indicated* “there are, on the
average, four reported near-col
lisions involving the airlines
daily.”
This was cited as an example
of “critical airspace congestion”
on much of the nation’s main air
ways.
Red Cross Plans Record
90 Million Dollar Appeal
NEW YORK, UP)—The Ameri
can Red Cross plans a record
peace time appeal for 90 million
dollars this year because of hurri
cane and flood disasters of the
past six months.
The disasters have caused the
organization to spend more than
27 million dollars on emergency
relief and long-range assistance
to families and small businesses.
Mrs. Reeve Files For GOP
Nat. Committeewoman
JUNEAU, UP) — Mrs. Janice
(Tillie) Reeve, wife of airline op
erator Bob Reeve of Anchorage,
has filed her candidacy for 'Re
publican National Committee
woman.
The post now is held by terri
torial Sen. Doris Barnes of Wran
gell. Reeve was the Republican
nominee for Delegate to Congress
in 1952.
Burglar Indignant Over
Peeping Tom Complaint
SACRAMENTO, Calif., OP) —
Police picked up Donald Erby, 25,
as a peeping tom suspect early
yesterday on complaint of a
woman.
At the police station, Erby in
dignantly denied the charge:
“I’m not a peeping tom, I’m a
burglar. I was waiting for the old
lady to go to bed so I could steal
her car.”
> Eleven pages of the December
24th edition of the Saturday Eve
ning Post are covered with pic
tures of Nome and Council in the
gold rush days, and accompanied
by a story by Mrs. Frank Du
fresne, better known to Alaskans
as Klondy Nelson.
Pictures of Front Street before
the days of the snow plows show
snow drifts as high as the second
story windows. There are also
early mining scenes; Front Street
in front of the old “tin bank;”
famous Nomeites such as Rex
Beach and Tex Rickard and
many other pictures which will
bring back memories to the older
residents and confirm stories that
newcomers find hard to believe.
Anyone here knowing the lo
cation of the house pictured on
Page 70, please get in touch with
the Nugget as there have been
inquiries about it.
Corey Ford, well-known Alas
kan author, collaborated with
Mrs. Dufresne on the story. In the
“Keeping Posted” column of the
Post, he relates how the story
came to be written.
The explanation states that 29
years ago, Ford went fishing in
Alaska with writer Frank Du
fresne who then was Alaska’s
game commissioner, and when he
got to know Dufresne’s wife
Klondy, he figured that her fas
cinating early life in frontier
Nome would make a swell story.
Klondy agreed to collaborate,
but it took them nineteen years
to finish the story.
Their main writing problem
was Klondy’s natural modesty.
They arranged for a neighbor of
Klondy’s in Seattle to take down
her reminiscenses.
Air Force Chief Says U.S.
Air Power Alone Deters
Red’s Aggressive Designs
OKLAHOMA CITY, W — Gen.
Nathing F. Twining declared to
day that America’s air power—
not its land and sea forces—has
kept Russia from attacking the
United States.
“The Soviets fear our power
in the air, and air power has been
the main reason for our peace
and safety so far,” the Air Force
chief of staff said in a speech
for the Oklhahoma City Cham
ber of Commerce.
Twining conceded that air
power had not deterred the Com
munists from invading South
Korea, and had not saved the
French from defeat in Indochina,
but he said these happenings did
not detract from “the one im
portant fact” that, as he put it:
“Our American air power has
kept the one great potential en
emy from attacking us. That has
been and will be the real danger
to us here at home.”
Twining said the Soviets do not
fear American land and naval
power because the U.S.S.R. has
“overwhelming strength on the
ground” and is not dependent on
using the seas.