231 NOME NUGGET
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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No, 127 VNOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1953Per Copy—154
Returnee Says He
Stayed Behind To
Gather Evidence
TOKYO, UP — A young soldier
from the hills of Virginia said
today he refused repatriation
from a Communist prison camp
so he could gather evidence to
prove to the people of America
, the Communists “are rotten to
the core.”
Cpl. Edward S. Dickenson, 23,
remained behind with 22 other
Americans when most Allied war
captives were repatriated at the
end of the Korean fighting.
Last Wednesday he left the
compound north of Panmunjom
where the others are still await
ing explanation about why they
should come home, and told the
Indian guards he had changed his
mind—that he wanted to be re
patriated.
Dickenson said he never be
lieved in Communism, though the
other Americans in prison camp 5
at Pyoktong, North Korea, con
sidered him a “progressive” who
cooperated with the Chinese Reds.
He said he wanted to learn all
he could about the Communists so
he could “get revenge for what
they did to me and my buddies.”
“I just thought I would play
along with them and get even
with them. I didn’t intend to go
to China,” he said.
Dickenson said the Commun
ists promised him and the other
22 Americans that if they stayed
behind they would have “plenty
of women, a good home and could
go to school to take up any
studies.”
The Reds also promised the
men they could go to China or
Russia or any other country.
In about five years, he said the
Communists told them, there
would be a revolution in the
United States. Then, he said, the
men who remained behind now
were told they would return to
the United States and “would be
the masters of our own country.”
South Korean Escapee
Says Reds Still Hold
Many ROK Prisoners
SEOUL., [S) — A South Korean
w^io recently escaped from North
Korea said today the Reds were
forcibly holding 600 South Kor
ean prisoners of war at Sunan in
North Korea.
The soldier said he escaped
from Sunan, about 10 miles north
west of Pyongyang, late in Sep
tember and reached Seoul 10 days
ago. He said the Reds are using
the South Koreans — many of
them officers—for road construc
tion work.
The Communists turned over to
the Indian Command at Panmun
jom last month 335 South Koreans
listed as unwilling to return
home. They said these were the
only South Koreans left.
Both the U.N. Command and
the ROK government have charg
ed the Reds are still holding back
several thousand other Allied pri
soners. The UNC asked the Reds
for an accounting of these prison
ers in a meeting of the Military
Armistice Commission at Pan
munjom last month.
Benson Does Not
Favor Direct Cattle
Price Supports
WASHINGTON, UR— Secretary
of Agriculture Benson today told
a caravan of cattlemen, seeking
government support for cattle
prices, that he has an “open
mind.” But he said a support pro
gram would raise tremendous ob
stacles.
Benson drew applause from the
350 cattlemen from 30 states when
he said he would consider the
facts supporting their request for
price supports on cattle.
But only a handful of cattle
men applauded when the Agri
culture Secretary said that so far
he is inclined to believe that an
indirect program, such as is al
ready underway, is the more prac
tical and feasible policy of sup
porting cattle prices.
The government is now buying
meat for school lunch and other
programs in indirect support of
the market.
Benson cited past efforts to put
rigid government support prices
under perishable goods. He said a
program was a “dismal failure”
when it was tried for hogs, and a
“fiasco” when applied to potatoes.
“I don’t say it’s not possible for
cattle,” he added, “but it would
be a terrible thing if we got into
this program and found it would
n’t work.”
Reds Again Pose Threat
To Peace Conference By
Insisting On Neutrals
PANMUNJOM, (51 — The Com
munists today raised an immedi
ate threat to the success of pre
liminary Korean peace talks at
their opening session by demand
ing the admission of neutral na
tions to the big talks of the
Korean peace conference.
Despite the ominous first day
of the preliminary talks, Arthur
Dean, the U.S. ambassador repre
senting the U.N., expressed hope
that an agreement could be ham
mered out and “a political con
ference will be held.”
Dean and the Communists ran
together head on over an agenda
for the preliminary talks. The
Reds insisted on discussing com
position of the political conference
as the first item on the agenda
for this meeting.
Dean has no authority to nego
tiate the makeup of the political
conference. He can discuss only
administrative matters, time and
place.
Bartlett Invites Stevenson
To Visit Alaska In ’54
WASHINGTON, (51 — Adlai
Stevenson, 1952 Democratic presi
dential nominee, may visit Alaska
next summer, Delegate Bartlett
said today.
The Alaska Delegate said he
visited with Stevenson in Chicago
last week and found him “still
strong for Alaskan statehood.”
“When he said he had never
been to Alaska, I invited him up
next summer and he said he
would try to make it,” Bartlett
said.
Erickson Placers Close
Down Operations For ’53
Erickson Placers, Inc., have
closed down operations for the
season on Bangor, Butterfield and
Jarosa Creeks.
The short season, which was
experimental with new type of
equipment, has yielded a substan
tial amount of information dur
ing the operation which consisted
of a series of trenchings across
the various creeks at strategic
points selected to give the most
information.
“While complete valuations per
yard are not yet available, we
have values both in scheelite and
gold already ascertained which
will warrant future operations,”
stated Walter Erickson, who
heads the organization.
The jig method of recovery was
used on one exploration and it
proved very satisfactory, clearly
pointing the way to sucessful re
working of much of the available
old workings on many of creeks
and especially where secondary
mineral is associated with gold
values.
Mr. Erickson declared that the
new company is most appreciative
of the coperation given them by
the business people in Nome and
that he plans to return early next
spring to lay out the year’s oper
ation.
Thunderstorms and Winds
Of Hurricane Force
Whip Texas Cities
HOUSTON, Tex., Lff) — Power
ful thunderstorms with winds up
to hurricane force ripped Houston
and Galveston before dawn today.
They smashed windows, snap
ped power lines, stripped and top
pled trees, blew down signs and
rooftops and twisted television
antennas. Early reports did not
show anyone injured.
Winds up to 84 miles an hour
whipped through Galveston. At
Houston 80-miles-per-hour winds
were recorded in gusts at the air
port station and 60 miles at the
downtown station. They lasted
only about half an hour.
Thunder and lightning crackled
over Galveston and torrents of
rain totaling .52 of an inch fell
during the blow.
It was reported large plate
glass windows popped “like
paper” in Houston when the sud
den change in atmospheric pres
sure came.
Streets and underpasses were
flooded and police and fire de
partments were swamped with
calls.
“It was the worst three hour
period in the history of the dis
patcher’s office,” Houston police
commented.
Un-American Activities Group
Wil Seek Advice and Counsel
From Religious Groups
WASHINGTON, [fft— Chairman
Velde (R-Ill) says the House un
American Activities Committee
will seek “advice and counsel”
from religious groups in its search
for Communist subversion.
Velde, in a statement said that
religion is the “greatest single
force combating Communism in
the United States and throughout
the world.”
Serial Numbers of
Missing Ransom
Money Distributed
ST. LOUIS, UP\ — A nationwide
distribution of serial numbers of
the missing ransom money in the
Greenlease kidnaping case was
'begun today with authorities here
apparently stalled in their search
for the $303,720.
The complex aftermath of the
kidnap - slaying of 6 - year - old
Bobby Greenlease of Kansas City
was highlighted by these week
end developments as an inquiry
into police handling of the case
here neared an end:
Police Lieut. Louis Shoulders,
credited with breaking the case,
resigned Sunday with an angry
charge that the inquiry by high
police officials here has destroy
ed his reputation as an officer.
A tip on the missing ransom
money that produced a flurry of
FBI activity here turned out to be
false.
Mrs. Elizabeth Eleanor Curti,
29-year-old St. Louis blonde, ac
cused of giving the false informa
tion to the FBI, was seized by the
FBI Saturday at a small down
town hotel.
She was quoted as saying she
heard a woman acquaintance tell
of seeing a “bundle of cash” in a
West St. Louis apartment.
The lists of serial numbers of
the missing ransom money, all in
$10 and $20 bills, went to law
enforcement agencies, banks and
other financial and business con-,
cems.
Yugoslavia Labels Italy’s
Latest Trieste Proposal
As “Hypocritical”
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, UR —
Yugoslavia says Italy’s latest pro
posal that both countries pull
their troops back from the border
between them is “a hypocritical
one” which is calculated to cover
up” the reason this country bol
stered her forces there in the
first place. That reason—Trieste.
The denunciation was made in
a broadcast over the Belgrade
radio yesterday, quoting a Yugo
slav foreign office spokesman as
telling the government’s own of
ficial news agency that Yugos
lavia counter - action along the
frontier with Italy came only
after this country’s interests were
jeopardized.
East Zone Police Launch
Big Hunt For Anti-Reds
BERLIN, UP) — West Berlin
newspapers say police of the So
viet East Zone have launched a
big manhunt for fighters of the
anti-Communist underground and
have clashed with them in several
gunbattles.
An estimated 28 police have
been killed or wounded and 16
partisans arrested in the past two
weeks as a result of the sweeps,
centering in wooded areas south
east of here, according to reports.
Western intelligence sources
said such clashes as have been
officially confirmed “do not in
dicate that East Germany is on
the verge of another June 17 re
volt.”
NNRC Spits Over
Forcing POWs
To Listen To Reds
PANMUNJOM, Iff)—1The strife
torn Communist efforts to per
suade 22,400 ex-Red soldiers to go
home appeared near an end to
day, stymied by an open split in
the Prisoner Repatriation Com
mission over whether to force the
POWs to listen to the Red per
suasion.
Lt. 'Gen. K.S. Thimayya, Indian
chairman of the commission, said
tonight the commission’s chances
of success in its mission are “very
small.”
“The situation is now very ser
ious, Thimayya told newsmen
after a 2-hour and 8-minute com
mission meeting debate on a let
ter stating the rival Communist
and non-Communist views.
Thimayya said the letter would
not be made public for several
days.
Observers have speculated that
the Communists may be seeeking
a way out of the explanations
after two days of talks with 931
Chinese won only 21 prisoners
back to the Red fold.
The commission is split over
whether to force the prisoners to
listen to the Red interviews. Red
satellites Poland and Czechslo
vakia walked out once to enforce
their demands that the POWs be
made to listen, at gunpoint if
necessary. Sweden and Switzer
land have just as stubbornly re
fused to appropve the use of
force.
India’s Thimayya effectively
has sided against the Reds, rul
ing that force cannot be used
unless the commission agrees to
it unanimously.
High Air Chiefs To Look
Over Newly Negotiated
Bases In Spain
WASHINGTON, UR—Air bases
in Spain took on new strategic iiA
port Monday as America’s mili
tary “new look” sent three top
command members abroad—with
the fourth reported planning to
follow suit.
Striking out for overseas des
tinations Sunday were:
1. Adm. Arthur Radford, chair
man of the joint chiefs of staff,
off on a four-week inspection of
bases and “get-acquainted” meet
ings with U.S. military and civ
ilian officials in Europe.
2. Gen. Nathan Twining, Air
Force chief of staff, to Europe and
North Africa for an inspection of
existing and projected U. S. air
bases.
3. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway,
Army chief of staff, to the Far
East and Alaska “in search of in
formation,” as he put it.
Still in Washington, but report
ed planning a trip to Pacific area
commands, was Adm. Robert B.
Carney, chief of naval operations.
Secretary of the Air Force Tal
bott, who left with Twining, said
his chief mission is Spain. It was
with Spain that the United States
recently signed a long-negotiated
agreement for the use of air and
naval bases.