ss NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LX No. 143 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1953_Per Copy—
Royal Family
Denies Crystal
Gazer Reports
LONDON, UP! — The Royal fam
ily has denied a newspaper story
that Queen Mother Elizabeth has
been getting tips on the future
from an Irish crystal gazer.
The Sunday Picturial said the
soothsayer was Tom Corbett, 41,
from Tipperary, who used to do
his crystal gazing in night clubs.
The story said he regularly vis
ited the Queen Mother’s residence,
Clarence House, to read the crys
tal ball for her.
The paper speculated that the
58-year-old Queen Mother wanted
to know about Princess Margar
et’s future, particularly her mar
riage prospects.
“. . . The story concerning the
crystal gazer visiting Queen Eli
zabeth, the Queen Mother, at
Clarence House is untrue,” said
the denial from Buckingham
Palace.
Royal denials formerly never
were issued and still are extreme
ly rare. The last was in May, when
the Palace denied that Princess
Margaret would become engaged
to Peter Townsend, the divorced
Air Force hero whose love she
renounced in 1955.
Callers at Corbett’s apartment
in the Westminster section of Lon
don were told he was away and
it was not known when he would
return.
The Sunday pictorial said he
had refused to comment on the
reported sessions with the Queen
Mother.
De Gaulle Gains
Popular Support
In French Election
By GEORGE McARTHUR
PARIS, OP) — Right-wingers
waving the bafiner of Premier,
Charles De Gaulle flattened the;
Communists, badly trimmed more j
moderate parties and swept to j
firm control of the new French !
National Assembly today.
The Communists held 22.9 per
cent of the popular vote but cap
tured only 10 of the 149 seats
they had held in the last National
Assembly in the man-to-man run
off elections in France Sunday.
Among the losers was the fiery
Communist mouthpiece and or
ganizer Jacques Duclos.
Toppled like shooting gallery!
ducks were many of the ex-pre- j
miers, ministers and wheelhorses
of the center parties.
Dark-browed Jacques Soustelle
became the man to watch in the
new Fifth Republic. It was Sous
telle who eluded police, escaped
to Algeria and gave political di
rection the rightist movement that
crumpled the Fourth Republic
CUNR), captured 32.1 percent of
the vote and 188 of the 465 seats
from European France. Not since
1946, when Communists elected
174 deputies, has a party held such
a large block of seats.
The conservative votes of 120
independent and present deputies,
combined with the UNR’s 188,
gave the rightists a clear ma
jority.
Aviation Week Magazine Publishes
Story-Of Russian Nuclear Airplane
' WASHINGTON, Of) — Secre
tary of Defense McElroy said to
day that he is highly skeptical of
a report that the Russians are
test-flying the world’s first nu
clear powered aircraft.
The magazine Aviation Week
published the report yesterday,
saying a (Russian atomic plane
was completed six months ago and
that it has been flying in the
Moscow area for at least two
months.
McElroy said if the magazine’s
report is true “it would be a sur
prise to us.”
The defense boss conceded in
talking to reporters that the So
viet Union might have a “slight
lead” over the United States in
the ultimate development of a nu
clear aircraft. But, he said, there
is no plan to change the aircraft
program because of it.
Two American firms, Convair
and Lockheed, have been work
ing on suitable designs for an
atomic airplane for several years.
A decision is expected, possibly
before the end of this year, as to
which design will be adopted.
The U. S. Air Force has been
pressing for a nuclear plane that
would have high speed as well
as tremendous endurance. The
Navy, however, 'has said that it
would settle for a slower aircraft
Continued on Page 2
Sunny Isles ?
LONDON, (#) — Britain’s Air
Ministry confirmed a fact that
hardly needed confirming Satur
day. The last time Londoners
saw the sun, the Ministry said,
was 13 days ago — and even then
it was blotted out by fog after
three hours. !
Famed Arctic
Explorer Dead
In Massachusetts
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., UR—Sir
Hubert Wilkins, famed explorer
of the North and South Poles,
was found dead today in his ho
tel room.
He was 70 years old.
Sir Hubert had an office in
nearby Natick where he was a
geographer with the Army’s quar
termaster research and develop
ment center.
Sir Hubert spent five summers
options of 26 winters in Arc
tic regions. He was recognized as
an authority on extreme climates,
whether extremely cold or hot.
He proved the feasibility of
flight over the ice caps of the
polar wastes.
He served as consultant to the
chief of the Environment Protec
tion Division of the Quartermaster
Corps.
Wilkins’ famous flight of 2,100
miles from Alaska to Europe
across the Polar ice caps was
hailed at the time as the greatest
of all Arctic flights.
In 1931 he took an Arctic cruise
in the Nautilus, a conditioned
Navy submarine, in an attempt to
reach the Pole under the ice.
The Nautilus had an inglorious
Arctic career. It finally reached
Spitzenbergen after recurring
break-downs and tows. It was evi
dent that it would never reach the
Pole but a short experimental trip
was made under the ice. Wilkins
finally got permission of the Navy
to sink the tub.
Death Does Not
Take A Holiday
HOLIDAY DEATHS
Traffic . 443
Fires . 51
Miscellaneous .(.. 116
Total . 610
'More than 600 Americans were
killed in accidents during the
four-day Thanksgiving weekend,
nearly 450 of them in traffic
crashes. v
Total of traffic deaths was high
er than that counted in a non
holidqy period of identical length
two weeks ago. It was not as
high as the 470 estimate made hy
the National Safety Council for
a 102-hour non-holiday weekend
at this time of year. •
The season’s first major snow
storm was regarded as a big fac
tor in a number of deaths on the
highways. The cold weather also
added to the number of violent
deaths as a series of destructive
fires took the lives of several per
sons, including many children.
Eisenhower Will Preside At Space
And National Security Meetings
By MARVIN L'. ARROWSMITH
AUGUSTA, Ga„ <£> — President
Eisenhower, nearing the end of
his vacation, today called Wash
ington meetings for Wednesday
on vital defense and space age
problems.
The President, who has been at
the Augusta National Golf Club
since Nov. 20, will fly back to the
capital late Tuesday. The next day
he will meet separately with the
National Aeronautics and Space
Council and the National Security
Council. He will preside at a sec
ond meeting of the Security
Council on Thursday.
These conference plans were an
nounced in the wake of a new
pledge by the President to Com
munist-threatened West Berlin —
a pledge that its freedom will be
safeguarded by the United. States.
The reaffirmation that the U. S.
will meet that responsibility —
shared by Britain and France —
came from Eisenhower after he
and Secretary of State Dulles had
discussed the Berlin situation at
an hour-long meeting here yes
I terday.
James C. Hagerty, White House
Press Secretary, announced that
the Wednesday Space Council
meeting at the White House will
deal with the issue raised by a
proposal by the new National
Aeronautics and Space Adminis
tration, a civilian unit, that it take
over the Army’s ballistic missile
agency. That would mean transfer
of about 2,000 scientists to the ci
vilian agency.
The proposal touched off a
storm of Army protest when it
was first made a few weeks ago.
But there now are reports at Eis
enhower’s vacation headquarters
that the controversy has been re
solved — and that a decision sat
isfactory to both the space agency
and the Army may be announced
soon. „
The Space Administration plan
was for it to take over the Army
Redstone Arsenal team of scien
tists at Huntsville, Ala. The team
is headed by German-born Wer
nher von Braun.
On the agenda at the National
Security Council meetings Wed
nesday and Thursday will be the
big question of how much to ear
mark for defense spending in the
fiscal year starting July 1. The
council also will study over-all
foreign air plans, particularly
whether military assistance should
be curtailed in favor of greater
economic aid to other nations.
Red China Reports
Discovery of Important
Mineral Reserves
TOKYO, UP) — Peiping Radio
reports Red China has located
more than 150,000 mineral deposits
this year that will provide “a bet
ter guarantee for rapid industrial
growth.”
A Communist weekend broad
cast quoting People’s Daily said
big iron ore reserves have been
found in “almost all provinces.”
It said of over 10,000 deposits ex
amined more than 500 big reserves
of important minerals were dis
covered, including 140 big iron
ore mines.
Rich iron ore reserves were
found in Kiangsi Province, East
China, which disproved previous
belief that no big iron reserves
existed south of the Yangtze Ri
ver comparable to Manchuria’s
Anshan Steel center, Peiping ra
dio said.
POPE JOHN ORDERS BONUS
FOR THRONE BEARERS
VATICAN CITY, UP) — Popei
John XXIII has ordered a 15,000
lire ($25) bonus for each of the
30 bearers who carry the 205
pound Pontiff on his portable
throne.
Husband of Wally Simpson
Dies In London Hospital
LONDON, UR — Ernest Simpson,
who lost his wife to King Edward
VII, died Sunday after a long
illness. He was 62.
Simpson was the second hus
band of Wallis Warfield, the
Duchess of Windsor, who divorced
him in 1937 and then married Ed
ward VIII after he abdicated.
A successful and wealthy ship
ping broker, Simpson had suffered
from a throat ailment for more
than a year and had been hospi
talized two weeks ago. His fourth
wife was with him when he died.
Simpson and the Duchess bad
remained friends after their di
.vorce.
HELICOPTER CRASHES
BRINGING INJURED TO
CANADIAN HOSPITAL
WINNIPEG, Man., UP) — A Ca
nadian Air Force helicopter
crashed and burned yesterday as
it was bringing a badly burned In
dian woman and her 2-year-old
daughter to a hospital. All six
persons aboard were killed.
The 14-passenger Sikorsky H34
crashed in snow .and poor visibi
lity on a frozen lake 96 miles
northeast of Winnipeg.
The Only “Toyland”-- at Nome Hardware
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