m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
VOL. LVI No. 112 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1954 Per Copy—15^
32 Killed, 5 Missing
In Explosion Of
U.S. Jet Fuel Tank
BITBURG, Germany, dPI — At
least 32 persons were listed as
dead today, 16 injured and five
more believed missing in the ex
plosion of a 120,000-gallon tank
of American jet fuel. Investigat
ors said they had not ruled out
sabotage.
There were no American cas
ualties in the blast here in the
French zone yesterday, near the
Luxembourg border. The colony
of big tanks, at the end of a
NATO pipeline from France,
stores six million gallons of fuel
for U.S. Air Force jet intercep
tors and fighter bombers station
ed at Bitburg.
Military property damage in the
disaster was estimated unofficial
ly at mro'e than two million dol
lars.
The blast occurred during a fire
fighting demonstration watched
by French officials and German
employes at the fuel depot. Ger
man federal police, joining French
security agents in an investiga
tion, said the “possibility of sab
otage" would be explored thor
oughly.”
Bitburg municipal officials said
as part of the fire fighting demon
stration, gasoline was poured on
top of the tank’s concrete roof
and lighted. The fire fighting
apparatus was supposed to put
out the test blaze almost instant
ly, but instead the tank under
neath exploded.
The officials speculated that
the test fire had ignited fumes
in the exhaust pipes of the tank.
Censure Charges Against
Sen. McCarthy Report
Be Made Public Monday
WASHINGTON, (/PI — Senators
who conducted hearings on cen
sure charges against Sen. McCar
thy virtually completed their re
port today. Sen. Watkins (R-Utahi
said it definitely “will be ready
for filing Monday morning” and
will be made pubic them.
Still up in the air was the ques
tion of whether the Senate will
reconvene before or after the el
ection to act on the report. Sen
ate Republican and Democratic
leaders will make the decision
jointly.
Watkins, chairman of the spe
cial censure study committee, de
clined to give any hint as to the
nature of the group’s decisions.
There was reported to be a
sharp division of sentiment among
senators as to whether the Sen
ate shoud meet before or after the
election to consider the censure
issue.
SNIPER FIRES INTO
U.S. CONSULATE IN KOREA
PUSAN, Korea, UP) — A sniper
today fired a small caliber bullet
into the U. S. consulate here,
narrowly missing Vice Consul
Gordon K. Mott, Lakewood, Ohio,
as he worked in front of a third
floor window.
Consul Charles B. Borell noti
fied U.S. military police, who are
investigating.
Ike Make His First
Politieal Speech
Of This Campaign
(By the Associated Press i
President Eisenhower came out
slugging last night for the first
time in the young political cam
paign—and his partisan Califor
nia audience loved it.
An estimated 18,000 persons
gathered at the Hollywood Bowl
cheered wildly as Eisenhower
told them a Democratic victory in
the congressional elections Nov. 2
would lead to “endless political
maneuverings, stagnation and in
action.”
The President was to wind up
a three-day speechmaking tour
with in informal talk to the AFL
meeting which only yesterday
adopted by voice vote a resolu
aion whirh held the Eisenhower
administration “guilty of many
crimes of omission and commmis
sion.”
The resolution accused the
President of “failure to redeem
various promises made during the
campaign two years ago, parti
cularly the promise to remove the
union - busting provisions of the
Taft-Hartley Act.”
In his speech to the Hollywood
Bowl rally, Eisenhower dropped
the reticence which up to then
had marked his campaign.
He declared Republican defeat
in the November elections — and
loss of control to the Democrats
in the 84th Congress—would lead
to a “field day” in Washington
politics.
Vice President Nixon last night
wound up the first phase of his
campaign tour with a speech in
Indianapolis, where he said the
administration is destroying the
Communist conspiracy in this
country. Nixon said the Eisen
hower administration “has final
ly put the Reds on the run in
America.”
Eisenhower Tells AFL
Democrats Blocked
Revision of T-H Act
LOS ANGELES, UP! —President
Eisenhower told the American
Federation of Labor convention
today organized labor’s views
will receive “sympathetic consid
eration” from his administration.
The President, who' received a
warm reception from delegates,
said he knew there are differ
ences between his views and or
ganized labor’s but the right to
disagree was an American tradi
tion.
Despite these differences, Ei
senhower said, “the views of this
convention will be studied and
sympathetically considered” just
as are the views of all segments
of the American economy.
Eisenhower said he had noted
criticism in one newspaper that
he had not redeemed his pledge
to remove a union-busting provi
sion from the Taft-Hartley law.
If he were making a political
speech, the President said, he
would remind audience that leg
islation that would have removed
that provision from the law was
killed in the Senate at the last
session of Congress by “a solid
Democratic vote.”
Fairbanks Woman
Fatally Wounds
Would-Be Prowler
FAIRBANKS, liPi—A wound he
received when he allegedly tried
to enter a vacant house in South
Fairbanks where two women
waited with a rifle, was fatal
Wednesday to Theodore Williams,
23. He was shot in the abdomen
Monday night.
Chief of Police Stanley Zaveral
said the two women — one of
them the owner of the house—
were on the alert inside the house
in darkness because of a previous
prowler entry.
Police said the woman owner’s
action was prompted by the theft
of a refrigerator the previous
week by a prowler who also had
moved the stove close to the door.
Authorities have not identified
the women. They said one of
them told of firing through a
broken window as the intruder at
tempted to open the door.
Williams was found lying on his
back about a block from the
house, bleeding profusely.
He regained consciousness
Tuesday, but police said they ob
tained little information from
him.
Church of England Vicar
Declares Young U.S. GIs
Run Wild In Germany
LONDON, l/Pi — A Church of
England vicar reclared today that
U.S. military authorities are let
ting young American soldiers run
wild in occupied Germany.
The charge of the Rev. Bernard
Croft appeared in the weekly
“Church of England newspaper.”
The vicar said* the “Little Am
erica” district near- the Munich
railroad station was reminiscent
of such notorious fleshpots as
Port Said, London’s Picadilly Cir
cus and the Place Pigalle in
Paris.
He referred to “dozens of hard
drinking spots full of GIs and
women of the streets” and said,
“on any evening drunks of both
sexes abound."
“Two things were especially
noticeable about these GIs,”
Croft wrote. “One was their ex
treme youth . . . the other, to
what a fine art their military
police have brought the practice
of turning a blind eye.”
NATO Forces In North
Germany Combat Third
Imaginary A-Blast
SENNELAGER, Germany, UP)—
A third imaginary atomic blast hit
the north German plain today as
defending U. S. atomic cannon
opened fire again in exercise
Battle Royal.
Results of the big NATO war
games were notftn yet, but prelim
inary umpire reports on the first
two mock atomic blasts indicate
that damage to the “enemy” div
ision was comparatively light be
cause of its dispersion in the
woods.
About 140,000 British, Ameri
can, Belgian, Dutch and Canadian
troops are engaged in the exer
cise, West Europe’s biggest test
so far of atomic warfare tech
niques.
Russians Exploded Hydrogen Bomb
500 Miles Northwest of Nome *
Recently, Say Japanese Scientists
<«
Russia Manipulates Metal
Markets To Throw Normal
Suonly Pattern Out Kilter
SAN FRANCISCO, UP) — The
American Mining Congress winds
up today with a discussion ‘of
taxes and technical forms before
the 6,000 delegates.
George O. Argali Jr., editor of
The Mining World, told the con
vention yesterday that Soviet
Russia is increasing its mineral
production in an effort to “dis
rupt and confuse” the world mar
ket.
Argali declared the free world
mineral stockpiling is based on
capacity, while Russia’s increase
is designed to throw the recent
normal mineral supply pattern
out o'f kilter.
It was “more than a coinci
dence,” he said, that Russia’s
zinc was sold in Great Britain at
a discount shortly after President
Eisenhower announced a stepped
up program for stockpiling lead
and zinc.
“Russia doesn’t have to operate
on a strict profit or loss basis,”
he said, “and so' it can undersell
any mining company in the
world.”
Simon D. Strauss, vice presi
dent of the American Smelting
and Refining Co. declared the in
dustry must create increased con
sumer demand in preparation for
the end of government stockpiling
of strategic materials, which he
said is bound to come.
Cost of Living In August
Exactly The Same As ’53
WASHINGTON, UPI — The cost
of living dropped 0.2 per cent
last month because of marked
down price tags on food—espe
cially meats — and clothing, the
Bureau of Labor statistics an
nounced today.
In each of the preceding three
months the figure had edged up
ward.
The August consumer price in
dex dropped to exactly the same
level as in August, 1953, at 115
per cent of the 1947-49 average.
Russian Submarine Threat
Is Great But U.S. Navy
Is Capable To Handle It
CHICAGO, (TP) — The Russian
submarine threat, says Secretary
of the Navy Charles Thomas is
the greatest in all naval history,
but the U.S. Navy is capable of
dealing with it.
Russia now has a modern fleet
of more than 350 submarines,
Thomas said last night, and is
capable of producing them at the
rate of about one each week.
But, he said, in contrast to
Word War II, “we have the cap
ability of dealing with the sub
marine anywhere and everywhere
—from the factory, to the base, to
the high seas.”
Thomas spoke at a dinner com
memorating the capture of the
Nazi submarine S-505 by Ameri
can sailors in 1944.
TOKYO, UP)—The newspaper
Asahi said Thursday that Japan
ese scientists have “almost con
clusive evidence" the Russians re
cently exploded an H-bomb on an
island 500 miles northwest of
Nome, Alaska.
The paper quoted Japanese re
searchers at the Tokyo Meteoro
logical Laboratory as estimating
the explosion took place in late
August or early September on
Wrangel Island. The island lies
within the Arctic Circle due west
of Pt. Barrow, Alaska.
Soviet Russia announced last
Friday it had exploded an “atomic
weapon” to study the battle effect.
The brief Moscow announcement
said the explosion took place “in
the Soviet Union during recent
days.”
Asahi said Dr. Yasuo Miyake of
the Meteorological Laboratory
would submit the findings at a
weather specialists meeting here
today.
The paper said the Japanese
meteorologists based their con
clusion on these recent Japanese
weather phenomena:
1. Radio static direction loca
tors in Tokyo recorded impulses
similar to those recorded when
the Bikini H-bombs went off. The
equipment recorded the impulses
coming from a north-northwest
direction at the end of August.
(Continued cm Page Two)
Japanese Mourn
Death of Radiation
Burned Fisherman
TOKYO, (/Pi — Japan plunged
into almost hysterical mourning
today over the death last night of
a 40-year-old fisherman who has
become the nation’s symbol of
hatred and fear of atomic wea
pons.
Newspapers and radio broad
casts were virtually turned over
to news of. Aikichi Kuboyama’s
death. Much of the comment was
anti-American, but not violently
so.
Japanese doctors said he died
of jaundice resulting from radi
ation sickness and Japanese phys
icians who performed an autopsy
fixed radiation sickness as the
fundamental cause of death.
A U.S. Army doctor who watch
ed the autopsy, Lt. Col. James L.
Hansen, said he “could not dis
agree” with the preliminary find
ings.
No U.S. doctors were allowed
to examine carefully either Kuba
yama or the other fishermen, all
of whom are still under treatment
here.
U.S. ambassador John M. Alli
son sent his personal sympathy to
Kuboyama’s widow, along with a
check for one million yen (about
$2,700).
Foreign Minister Katsuo' Oka
zaki said after a special cabinet
meeting that a tentative damage
claim of five million yen ($13,500)
for t}ie Kuboyama family was dis
cussed.