22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LX No. 125 ~~ NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1958 _Per Copy—15c
Russian TU104 Jet
Crashes, Killing 65
Passengers, 4 Crew
LONDON, UP> — The crash of a
TU104 jet airliner, showpiece of
Soviet aviation, took the. lives of
the 65 passengers and all creyv
members,. Red China announced
last Sunday night.
Peiping Radio said .there were
no survivors of the crash. Friday
night at Kanash, 400 miles east
of Moscow, and that among the1
dead were 16 Chinese govern
ment officials.
It was the first crash to l?e an
nounced for the jet airliner, the!
pride of the Soviet commercial
air fleet.
The other 49 passengers were
described as “foreign friends”
and experts on their way home
from Red China. They included
one Briton, four East Germans
and the son of the Cambodian
Ambassador to Peiping.
The numfber of crew members
was not given, but the TU104
■usually carries up to 10.
The Peiping broadcast gave the
first details of the disaster. Mos
cow Radio in one of its rare an
nouncements of air mishaps, said
Saturday night that the plane
went down on a regular Peiping
to-Moscow flight, but did not dis
close how many had been killed.
Banfe Takes off From ,
Cordova For New York
CORDOVA, UFI — Charles F.
Banfe Jr., whose light plane was
forced down here Friday less
than half way on a planned Tok
yo-Miami flight, took off today
for New York. Banfe, 39, said he
he hoped to fly non-stop in 25Vfc
hours, passing over Northway,
Edmonton, and Buffalo. He ex
pects to try another flight in six
months.
Russians Deny
Knowledge Of
11 U. S. Airmen
MOSCOW, W) — The Soviet
government has again denied
knowing what happened to 11
U. S, airmen on a plane that
crashed in Soviet Armenia Sep
tember 2. The tone of its denial
indicated the subject is closed so
far as the Kremlin is concerned.
The Russians have returned the
bodies of six Americans killed in
the crash of the U. S. Air Force
C-130.
The plane was carrying 17 per
sons when it crashed. The U. S.
State Department said Soviet
fighters forced the unarmed
transport to leave its course over
Turkey and fly into Soviet
Armenia.
Mild Weather Broken
(Bv The Ateociated Praia)
Strong northerly winds fanned
cold Pacific air across Northwest
sections of the country today,
breaking a spell of mild weather.
Violent storms which struck
southeastern areas appear ended.
Fairly normal weather prevailed
in most other parts of the coun
try, with a warming trend in the
central section.
Severe windstorms hit north
west areas yesterday. Four per
sons were killed by falling trees
in Oregon. In Idaho, the gale-like
winds whipped up clouds of dust
and contributed to several traffic
accidents, with one person killed
and at least 27 other injured.
Twenty-five persons were in
jured in the pileup of eight cars
in a dust storm near Malta.
Alaska Is Ripe
For Shady Stocks,
"ays S.'E. C.
KODIAK, W>—1Two officials of
the Securities and Exchange
Commission warned yesterday
that Alaska offered ripe ground
for unscrupulous stock promoters
seeking financial harvest from in
terest in the 49th state.
The testimony was given be
fore .the Legislative Council by
James Newton, regional adminis
trator for SEC, and Forbes Web
ber, attorney for the agency.
They advised the lawmakers
seek the creation of a state secur
itities commissioner and an at
torney to control stock promo
tions in Alaska.
On other matters Dr. Wildon
Frank, University of California
Radiation Laboratory, said nuc
lear power could be used to ex
cavate harbors in Alaska. He said
the Atomic Energy Commission
was interested in Alaska because
of the development needed and
that the new state offered sparse
ly settled areas where demonstra
tions could be conducted.
The AEC already is looking
over possible sites, with plans
centering on blasting a harbor
north of Bering Strait maybe in
I960. ,
R. A. Derr of die AVA, pro
posed approval of "a four million
dollar bond issue to build lodges
along highways. Two public rela
tions consultants, Harpilton
Wright of New York, and Harry
Briggs, representing Weiss and
Co., separately sought contracts
for tourist promotions.
Earlier, the Council heard a
forecast that oil and gas lease
rental revenue would reach 26V4
million dollars for the year of
1963. •
M. O. Allen, BLM official of
Juneau, said rental revenues will
likely be 9Vi million dollars next
year and go up to 13Vi million
in 1960.
Other witnesses indicated that
Alaska will need all the revenue
it can get.
Richard Freer, budget director,
said agencies already have re
quested appropriations for 1959
60 totaling $33,100,135, almost
equal to the total appropriation
for the 1957-59 biennium. He es
timated the revenue for the next
year, not including oil lease
money, at $22,650,000.
Tax Commissioner Robert Ste
venson said the state is going to I
have to look for new sources to
Divers Unable To
Find Bodies In
Plane Wreckage
ARGENTIA, Nfld., UP) — Seven
U. S. Navy divers went down in
Placentia Bay here today looking
for the bodies of 10 men believed
trapped in an American radar pa
trol plane.
One man was known to have
been killed in Saturday’s crash,
10 are missing and 18 were res
cued.
A wing of the ibig Navy Super
constellation was found Sunday
but there was no sign of the fu
selage. Officials have expressed
the opinion that wind-whipped
waves may have broken it up.
The plane plunged into 30 feet
of water about 1,000 feet from a
runway of the U. S. Naval Base
here during an instrument land
ing. It was foggy at the time, but
a Navy officer said the field was
well lighted.
Winds whipped the bay into a
fury Sunday and halted search
operations for six hours.
Lt. John Koskey, the plane’s
copilot, said he surrendered the
controls to the pilot seconds be
fore the crash. Altitude was then
250 feet. The weather ws bad.
The pilot is among the missing.
Seattle Chamber
Group Expected
Here Wednesday
Plans for the visiting Chamber
of Commerce members from Se
attle, who are scheduled to ar
rive here for an overnight stop,
are shaping up well, with a
smorgasbord dinner, open to the
public.
Entertainment is being planned
of interest to the visitors as well
as local guests, under the chair
manship of Judge Walter Hodge.
Those planning to attend are
asked to co-operate by making
their reservations immediately for
the convenience of the manage
ment of the Seaview Dining
Room.
The dinner will be held on Wed
nesday at 7 p. m.
Cocktails hour will be observed
at 5:30 at the Polaris and the
Bering Sea Club, to facilitate
residents becoming acquainted
with the visitors.
replace $337,000 in tax from fish
traps. He suggested a possible in
crease in gear licenses and resi
dent and non-resident fishing li
censes.
Secretary Dulles Enroute To Formosa
By MARVIN L. ARROWSMITW
DENVER, UPl — President
Eisenhower today instructed Sec
retary of State Dulles to continue
on his way to Formosa despite
ending of the Chinese Commu
nist cease fire.
Eisenhower held a pre-dawn tel
ephone conference with Dulles,
who called from Fairbanks, Alas
ka. Dulles had arrived there en
route to Taipei for consultation
with President Chiang Kai-Shek.
Eisenhower, making a political
campaign tour, was awakened at
5:30 ajn. to take Dulles’ call.
They consulted for about 10
minutes and then decided that
Dulles should continue his trip.
The conference took place
shortly after the Chinese Commu
nists announced they were end
ing their 15-day cease-fire. The
Reds previously had announced
the cease-fire would continue at
least through this week.
James C. Hagerty, White House
Press Secretary, called a special
news conference to announce the
Eisenhower-Dull es conferene.
“Both the President and Chiang
Kai-Shek had been hopeful that
the suspension of hostilities gave
a good opportunity to advance the
cause of peace in that area (For
mosa),” Hagerty said.
“They had also been agreed
that it would be useful for the
Secretary of State to continue
this visit to Formosa on this
peaceful mission.
“Despite the bombardment that
the Chinese Communists opened
this morning, the President and
the Secretary of State hope the
bombardment will be of short dur
ation, and that peace will be re
stored in the area.”
F & W L S Report Seeks To
Determine Whether Walrus And
Polar Bear Face Possible Extinction
WASHINGTON, UP) — Interna-4
tional cooperation may be neces
sary to determine whether wal
rus and polar bear face possible
extinction under present man
agement policies. ,
“We don’t even know how many
walrus and polar bear there are,”
says John L. Buckley of the Fish
and Wildlife service. “So we’re
in no position to say whether
present levels of kill are too
great.”
On the basis of information he
has gathered in the course of stu
dying the -walrus, however,,
Buckley said toe feels reasonably
certain that the known U. S. wal
rus population is not sufficient
to withstand the present kill of
approximately 1,000 animals a
year by the Alaskan Eskimo.
The difficulty of obtaining an
accurate count arises from the
fact that the walrus ranges
through both Russian and U. S.
waters as it follows the ragged
southern edge of the ice pack
through the Bering Sea into the
Arctic Ocean and back each year.
The range of the polar bear is
even greater, extending along the
Arctic coasts of Russia, the
United States, Canada and Green
land as well as far out into the
ocean itself.
Buckley, assistant chief of the
service’s branch of wildlife re
search, attempted a population
check of walrus in U. S. waters
this spring, and came up with a
figure of approximately 6,000
animals.
(Most of these were in the Ber
ing Sea area above St. Lawrence
Island, although he. spotted an
estimated 1,500 animals on the
walrus islands in Bristol Bay.
For some reason, still unknown
to Buckley, all those seen on the
walrus islands were male bulls.
Because of inability to comb
the entire Bering Sea expanse in
the aircraft available to him,
Buckley believes it likely there
may have been other walrus in
the area which he did not see.
What particularly distresses
Buckley is that fewer than half
the estimated 1,000 walrus killed
each year by the Alaskan Eskimo
are fully utilized.
His studies indicate probably
half the slain animals sink into
the water and are never recovered.
On others, only the 15 to 20
pounds of ivory is taken while
the rest of the 3,000 pound car
cass is discarded.
Buckley said he now is putting
together a report coordinating
what is known and what is un
known, concerning the walrus.
A similar report on the polar bear
will be prepared by Robert F.
Scott, also of the Fish and Wild
life Service and leader of the
Alaskan Gooperative Wildlife Re
search unit at the University of
Alaska. Both reports are planned
for publication. in .December.
Dulles Terms
Chinese Reds’
Action 6A Tragedy’
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE,
Un — Secretary of Stale Dulles
said today that it was a tragedy
that the Chinese Communists
have again displayed their “war
like disposition.”
Dulles made the statement while
awaiting refueUng of his jet tank
er which is taking him to For
mosa.
The secretary told a newsman
he had just talked to President
Eisenhower in Denver and was
informed of the Chinese Reds’ re
sumption of firing in the Formosa
Strait area.
“I had embarked upon what. I
believed and hoped was a mission
of peace,” Dulles said. "I- shall
persist in that purpose.”
Dulles and his party left this
Alaska Air Command base 26
miles south of Fairbanks for the
nonstop flight across the Pacific
to Formosa. The flight was ex
pected to take about 11 hours.
The Strategic Air Command
KC135 tanker in which Dulles is
traveling made the flight here
over the polar route from Eng
land in just over 10 hours. The
big jet plane bucked headwinds
all the way, but averaged better
than 400 miles an hour.
_
WEATHER FORECAST
Cloudy with occasional snow
tonight and Tuesday. Low to
night 10, high tomorrow 20-25.
Chinese Reds Break Cease Fire
By GENE KRAMER <
TAIPEI, UR—The Chinese Reds
broke their cease-fire in Formosa
Strait today, pounding Quemoy
for nearly three hours and then
turning their guns on Tatan Islet
off Amoy.
The Nationalists on Quemoy,
amply supplied during the nearly
15-day cease-fire, returned the
Red fire. The Communist artillery
caught four Nationalist supply
ships in the Quemoy beach area
— three LSTs and one Navy
transport. There was no word on
whether any were hit.
The Red guns blazed at Quemoy
for 2 hours and 45 minutes, then
halted. Eighty minutes later, they
opened up on Tatan, a 96-acre is
let 2Vfe miles south of Amoy.
The Nationalist defense minis
try here said the Red bombard
ment began at 4 pm. and 11,500
rounds were counted before the
shelling of Quemoy halted. The
ministry classified it as intense but
far from the heaviest since the
Communists began shelling the
offshore islands August 23.
The Chinese Communists said
they were suspending their cease
fire — scheduled to end next
Sunday — because U. S. warships
had convoyed Nationalist supply
vessels to Quemoy. U. S. officials
denied it.
Communist China issued what it
called its 37th serious warning to
the United States, and charging
that four U. S. destroyers had vio
lated territorial waters^ in the
Pingtan and Matsu area Monday.
The abrupt development raised
grave new problems for U. S. Sec
retary of State Dulles, flying by
jet tanker over the North Polar
route to Formosa. His mission
was to clear up misunderstand
ings with Nationalist President
Chiang Kai-Shek, and lay the
base for a more substantial cease
fire in Formosa Strait.