NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS__
VOL. LVIII No. Ill NOME. ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 19§6_Per Copy—154
Boy, 14, Kills Would-Be Robber,
Thereby Saving His Father’s Life
HEIDELBERG, Germany, (tfl—
A 14-year-old American boy who
“never before shot a living thing”
was credited today with saving
his father’s life in a bank robbery
plot.
John W. Kuhel, bank manager,
told how his son Robert concealed
a pistol and banged away as the
would-be robber was bringing his
own gun into play.
Robert's two shots killed Hugo
Walgenbach as the German aimed
his own gun at the boy’s father.
“I would never have seen my
youngster or wife again,” Kuhel
told reporters.
Police theorized Walgenbach had
shot and killed a man from near
by Mannheim a few hours before
because he would not join in the
robbery.
The shooting took place on a
downtown Heidelberg street after
a fast-talking German who had
once served time in the United
States for a bank robbery kid
naped Kuhel, his wife and son in
a bold, bank robbery attempt.
They were driving to Kuhel's
Fairbanks Attorney
Disbarred for.
Embezzlement
SAN FRANCISCO UTt—The dis
barment of Cornelius P. Cough
lan, Fairbanks attorney, from the
right to practice before Alaska
territorial courts was affirmed
Tuesday by the U.S. court of ap
peals.
Coughlan’s disbarment, which
was ordered after a hearing be
fore federal district Judge George
W. Folta in Fairbanks in March
1955, followed testimony that he
had embezzled money from an
estate. Coughlan testified that his
signature had been forged.
In his appeal from the disbar
ment, Coughlan claimed several
errors by the court, but the court
of appeals said the claims of error
were “without merit.”
bank.
Kuhel said Robert was back in
his 9th grade class in school after
spending the night with his moth
er in seclusion. “He slept well,”
the father said. Kuhel expressed
hope his son would be permitted
to resume “a normal life as soon
as possible.” He said one of Rob
ert’s major interests was sports
and that he excelled in football,
basketball, bowling and target
shooting.
Kuhel. formerly from Brook
lyn, N.Y., is manager of the Chase
Manhattan Bank’s branch office
in Heidelberg.
Gen. Atkinson Named
Commander of U.S.
Air Defense Command
WASHINGTON, (AT—1The Air
Force appointed Lt. Gen. Joseph
H. Atkinson as commander of the
Air Defense Command Monday.
It is the top air headquarters post
under the Continental Air De
fense Command.
Gen. Earle E. Partridge, Conti
nental Air Defense commander at
Colorado Springs, has been filling
both positions. The Air Force said
that the assignment of Gen. At
kinson, now commander in chief
in Alaska, will permit Gen. Part
ridge to devote his full time to
the overall responsibilities of tire
continental command for defense
of the United States against as
sault thru the air.
Atkinson’s post in Alaska will
be taken by Lt. Gen. Frank A.
Armstrong Jr., former command
er of the Alaskan Air Command.
The Continental Air Defense
Command, in addition to author
ity over the airborne defenses of
the United States, also controls
the Army’s antiaircraft command
and units of the Navy that oper
ate offshore in the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans to give early warn
ing of any danger.
When the Banker’s Daughter Met the Russians...
SEATTLE —There they were,
flying along at 20,000 feet, when
the banker’s daughter met the
Russians. A good time was had
by all.
Miss Gay Selack, 26, was flying
home yesterday from a trip to
Europe. The Russians were four
delegates to trie International
Congress on Theoretical Physics
at the University of Washington.
“They asked me about every
thing,” said the banker’s daugh
ter. “We talked about segregation,
about housing, automobiles and
everything but politics.”
Questioned for Six Hours
The daughter of Stephen Se
lack, president of a Seattle sav
ings bank, said the Russians, in
friendly mood, plied her with
questions for six hours on the
flight west from Chicago in a
United Airlines transport.
Miss Selack explained that she
broke the ice by telling the Rus
•Imm ahe had Just returned from
Europe and knew how it is to be I
in a strange land.
'He Talked Like Mad'
"That little guy,” she told a re
porter, pointing to one of the four,
"was cool at first. But .over a cup
of coffee he talked like mad.”
When the Russians left the
plane they weren’t so talkative
with newsmen. The four of them
—Valadin Barashenkov, N. N. Bo
goliubov, K. Martirosyan and Ser
gei V. Tayablikov—Said they were
too tired to talk. It was nyet, nyet,
nyet.
But when they saw Miss Selack
talking to a reporter at the bag
gage counter, one of them scooted
over and implored her not to talk
about their discussion.
He looked relieved at her assur
ance: “I won’t say anything.”
Interested in Negro Problem
“They asked me if we had seg
regation in this country," she con
tinued to the reporter. “I told
them we were working on the
problem. Then they asked me if I
had Negro friends. They were
very interested in the segregation
question.
“They asked me what my fath
er did. I told them he was a bank
er and they shouted: “Aha—a
capitalist!”
“They were very interested in
housing,” Miss Selack added.
They were surprised to find that
houses cost so much. They also
thought I had scads of maids to
work for me. Oh yes, they think
New York is just like Moscow—
everybody running and grabbing
street cars and busses.”
A Hash Brown Wonder
They were so intrigued by hash
brown potatoes that the food al
most got cold while the Russians
examined it.
“One of them has a town house
and a country home,” she said.
“Imagine all this in classless Rus
sia.”
As for the banker’s daughter:
"Don’t worry about me; I vote
it Republican.”
First Snow of Season
Well, it finally came—the snow
that is—and with it a last min
ute rush to fix up water tanks
and oil storage. The weather fore
cast for tonight is temperatures
in the low 20’s—below freezing,
but the Moonlight Water Co. said
today they anticipate no pro
longed cold snap so the water
will not be shut off. At least
not for the present.
Assurances Made
Nome Field Will
Be Maintained
Nelson David, president of the
Alaska Airlines, arrived from
Anchorage where he has been at
tending a meeting of heads of all
Alaskan air carriers with repre
sentatives of the CAA, the Post
Office Department, the U.S. Wea
ther Bureau and other cooperat
ing agencies.
Many problems common to all
carriers were discussed. Of par
ticular interest to the people of
this area, Mr. David said, was
the assurance that there would be
contipuing improvements made to
Nome Field with the necessary
maintenance to make it safe for
all aircraft to use.
Mr. David is enroute to Kotze
bue to survey the work of his
company in that area.
WORLD S OLDEST LIVING HUMAN
Colombia Native
May Be 167 Years Old,
Brought to New York
MIAIMI, Fla., OP—A leathery
little man wih jet black hair was
enroute to New York today where
scientists may determine if he is
the world’s oldest living human.
Javier Pereira, who stands 4
foot-4 and weighs only 75 pounds,
arrived last night from his native
Columbia enroute to Cornell Med
ical Center. There he will under
go physical, scientific and historic
testing.
Estimates of Pereira’s age range
as high as 167 years, tout the spry
little Indian cannot read or write
and does not know how old he is.
He agrees, however, that the 167
figure is about right.
Dr. Jose Miguel Restrepo, an
authority on human age, estimat
ed Pereira’s years at more than
120.
One report has it that an 86
year-old woman in Pereira’s na
tive village remembers Pereira as
an old man when she was a child.
Doctors who examined him at
Medellin, Columbia, reported that
while his wrist joints and radical
artery were those of an extremely
old man, his blood circulation was
that of a youngster. His heart ac
tion and blood pressure showed
unusual vigor, they added.
Pereira, said his inrterpreter,
Flavio Correa, recalls events
which happened in the days of
Simon Bolivar, who died in 1830.
Bolivar was a South American
hero.
Pereira, according to Correa,
“drinks when he can get it,
smokes when he can, and has out
lived five wives."
Russia Willing to Take
Part in Six-Nation
Conference on Suez
MOSCOW tP—Premier Bulgan
in said today the Soviet govern
ment would be ready to take part
in a six-power conference of
heads of state to avert war over
the Suez Canal crisis.
Participants would be the Unit
ed States, Britain, the Soviet Un
ion, France. Egypt and India.
Dulles Asks Egypt to Accept Plan
For Canal Users Association as a
First Step To Peaceful Solution
LONDON WV—John Foster Dul
les called on Egypt today to ac
cept his plan for a canal users
association as the first step
toward a peaeeful and permanent
solution of the Suez crisis.
The U.S. secretary of state also
suggested that the United Nations
“might find it useful to invoke”
the scheme while talks continued
between Egypt and the world’s
leading maritime nations. 1
Dulles’ speech took up a great
part of the 80 minutes of the
opening session of the 18-nation
conference on Suez. His primary
purpose was to convince skeptical
smaller nations among the 18 that
the users association idea, backed
by the western big three, was a
good one.
After giving the details of his
plan, Dulles told the delegates at
Lancaster House:
“The extent of its practical
utility will, of course, depend
much—though not wholly—on
Egypt’s attitude.
“But our readiness to cooper
ate with Egypt on a practical
basis serves again to demon
strate our desire to leave no
reasonable step untried in the
search for a solution of the
grave problem that confronts us
.and. indeed, the world.
“Our readiness to cooperate
with Egypt on a de facto provi
sional basis may also suggest a
provisional solution which the
United Nations might find it use
ful to invoke while the search for
a permanent solution goes on.”
Egypt’s President Nasser has
already condemned the users as
sociation idea as tantamount to a
declaration of war if carried out.
Sweden, Iran and Spain im
mediately called for further
talks with the Nasser regime,
which earlier this month reject
ed—even as a basis for negotia
tions—the 18-nation proposal
for international control of the
waterway.
Many of the 18 nations had
agreed to come to the new talks
only to hear Dulles’ explanation
of the users association, which
they feared might be tied in with
the use of force. In his speech,
Dulles emphasized the peaceful
side.
He proposed establishment of a
small operating staff under an
administrative shipping agent,
along with a small governing
board to be chosen from among
the 18 nations.
Dulles also raised the possibility
—uppermost in all delegates’
minds—that Nasser might block
the canal to association members.
"It is. I suppose, inevitable
that those interested in the
movement of passengers and
freight between the East and
the West and in the production
of oil and other goods for such
transit should now be thinking
ing in terms of long-term alter
natives to the Suez Canal." he
said.
"There is much talk at the
present time about larger tank
ers which could go around the
Cape of Good Hope with greater
(Continued on Page Five)
Weather Patrol Plane
With 18 Men Aboard
Forced Down in Pacific
HONOLULU, Iff)—A Navy Con
stellation weather patrol plane
was forced down in the Pacific
100 miles south of Guam early
Monday, but all 18 men aboard
were rescued.
Two were picked up by a Navy
helicopter which flew them to
Guam. One, AT2 B. W. Holladay
of Lebanon, Tenn., had slight
head cuts. The other, AT3 T. S.
Bodek of Shavertown, Pa., was
not injured.
Sixteen others were taken from
two liferafts lashed together by
the Cost Guard cutter Button
wood and a Navy landing craft
which rushed to the scene.
The big plane came down from
unreported causes while on a
routine weather patrol. Several
hours later, witti the aid of flares,
all of it* crew had been picked up