62nd Year No. 127NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1961 Per Copy 15/
Councilmen to
Attend League of
Cities Convention
The annual League of Alaskan
Cities Convention is being held
this week in Anchorage with the
city of Anchorage * as host.
Presiding will be R. M. Hard
castle, mayor of Ketchikan, presi
dent of the league, with the mayor
of Anchorage giving the address
of welcome.
Keynote address will ‘be by the
Honorable Wm. Egan, Governor
of Alaska. Other speakers include
Martin Underwood, Commissioner
of the Department of Public
Safety.
A panel discussion “Municipal
Rights and Uses of Land and
Natural Resources” is scheduled
with Earl Shennett, mayor of
Sitka as moderator. Other panel
discussions include “Implemen
tation of Article LX, State Con
stitution which is Standardization
of Assessments and Revision and
Refinement of Municipal Codes
and Incorporation Laws; Plan
ning, Finance and Operation of
Capital Improvements.”
Nome will be represented by
Mayor Roscoe Wilke; Council
men Keith Hedreen, Charles
' Frazier, Don Perkins, Bob Her
man and John Reader.
U.S. Plans to Set
Off Underground
Nuclear Explosion
WASHINGTON UFl — President
Kennedy approved plans today
for an underground nuclear ex
plosion in New Mexico as part of
the nation’s program to develop
peaceful uses for nuclear energy.
The White House said the ex
plosion probably will take place
in about 60 days, some 1,200 feet
tbelow ground in a salt formation
near Carlsbad, N.M.
The (blast will be the first in
the Atomic Energy Commission’s
Plowshare Program to evolve uses
for atomic explosives. Prepara
tions have been under way since
March 1960.
“This is a further example of
this country’s desire to turn the
power of the atom to roan’s wel
fare rather than his destruction,”
the White House said.
Observers from the Soviet Unr
ion will toe permitted to watch the
test if they choose.
The United States so far has
set off three underground explo
sions in Nevada in military tests
which were renewed after Russia
ended a three-year moratorium
Sept. 1 and fired the first of
more than a score of atmospheric
explosions.
Intoxicated Persons to Be
Banned on Airliner Flights
WASHINGTON ii> — The Fed
eral Aviation Agency said ‘today
the airlines must ban from their
planes any person who appears
to be intoxicated.
The FAA said the new rule took
effect last Saturday.
It also requires the airlines to
report to the FAA any distur
bance aboard their planes, caused
fay passengers. Such reports must
be made within five days.
Soldier Killed as
Mortar Shell Explodes
ANCHORAGE UPi — One sol
dier was killed and three others
injured late yesterday when a
mortar shell fell short and ex
ploded during a training exercise
at Ft. Richardson.
One of those injured had his
left leg amputated below the
knee today at the Air Force hos
pital here. A second was treated
and released shortly after the in
cident. Army officials did not in
dicate what injuries were suf
fered by the third soldier.
The accident occurred on Davis
Range which is located on Ft.
■Richardson. All the men involved,
including the mortar crew, are
from Co. B, 23rd Infantry.
Midas IV Spy
Satellite Detects
Titan Missile Flight
GAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —
The new Midas IV Spy satellite
detected a Titan missile as it
roared away from the Cape on
a 6,100-mile test flight last night,
an official reported today.
The launching was timed when
Midas IV whirled 2,100 miles
overhead to determine if infra-red
sensing devices in the satellite
could pick up the exhaust trail
of the Titan and relay the infor
mation to a ground station.
“The Midas spotted, the Titan
about 90 seconds after it lifted
off,” the official said.. “Water
vapor and other elements in the
atmosphere probably prevented it
from locking on the exhaust trail
sooner. We consider it a good
test.”
Similar successful experiments
were conducted with the Midas
III satellite launched earlier this
year.
Ait 90 seconds, the Titan was
about 40 miles high, heading for
its ninth straight success on a
6,100-mile flight. It is to become I
operational late this year.
Eisenhower Attacks
Demo Administration
NEW YORK UD — Former
President Dwight Eisenhower says
the Kennedy Administration is
“confusing me* and all my
friends.”
In one of his sharpest attacks
on the Democratic Administration,
Eisenhower said last night fed
eral fiscal policies are “shrink
ing dollars.” He called the Peace
Corps a “juvenile experiment”
and suggested Peace Corps mem
bers might be sent to the Moon.'
In Washington, White House
press secretary Pierre Salinger
said he had no comment on Ei
senhower’s remarks.
The former Republican Presi
dent appeared at a campaign
rally in support of the state Atty.
Gen. Louis J. Lefkowitz, Repub
lican candidate for mayor of New
York City. He said Democratic
Mayor Robert F. Wagner, who is
running for re-election, has given
the city a diet of “indecision and
vacillation.”
But he levelled most of his
criticism at Washington Demo
crats.
SCOFF AT RUMORS
HAVANA <* — C
iia^ii»p«#iscoffed
tumors circulating ad
Prime Minister Fidel
been slain. They sa
make
U.S. Army Placed
On Six-Hour Alert
At Berlin Border
BERLIN \m — All U.S. Army
troops in Berlin were placed on
general alert for six hours today
in the midst of seesawing over
the right of Americans to enter
East Berlin. Ten U.S. tanks were
brought up to .the wall dividing
the city.
At one stage the Army sent
troops with fixed bayonets into
East Berlin to enforce American
insistence on the right of Ameri
can civilians to enter the sector.
Later the East Germans turned
back two U.S. sightseeing buses—
and were allowed to get away
with it, the Army explained, 'be
cause women aboard the buses,
might be imperiled.
East Berlin border guards
stepped aside when armed U.S.
military police escorted an Amer
ican civilian car into the Com
munist sector.
The East German police held up
the buses carrying U.S. military
personnel and cilivians for more
than an hour demanding that the
officer in charge identify his pas
sengers to authorities of the Com
munist East German regime. The
American officer refused.
In an earlier incident th«» East
Germans refused to allow two
American civilians in an Army
licensed private car to pass
through the check point without
identification. But the U.S. Com
mand ignored the East Germans
and sent the car through with
the armed escort in assertion of
Allied rights to free movement in
Berlin.
Then, in a gesture of concilia
tion, the U.S. Commander said it
was temporarily restricting the
passage of American civilian ve
hicles into East Berlin.
Seismic Expert Claims
Major Earthquakes are
More Powerful Than Bomb
NEW YORK m — Major earth
quakes are about five times more
powerful than Russia’s 50-mega
ton nuclear bomb, a seismic ex
pert said today.
Father Joseph Lynch, director
of the Fordham University Seis
mic Observatory, said a really big
earthquake, like the San Fran
cisco quake in 1906 or the one in
Chile last year, runs about 240
megatons.
This equals 12,000 atomic bombs
of the type that destroyed Hiro
shima, Japan, in 1945, he said.
Minor earthquakes of the 30
to-50-megaton range are recorded
on an average of 10 times a year,
although we have had none this
year, Father Lynch said.
He explained that he compared
the Russiah blasts with earth
quakes by hypothetically placing
tee Soviet bomb at the proper dis
tance beneath the earth’s sur
face and then by transposing his
seismic readings into the megaton
units.
Fther Lynch pointed out that all
the figures are approximations.
WEATHER FORECAST
Fair tonight with itfcrcosing
cloudiness tomorrow. Low tonight
10-15, high tomorrow 20-35. In
tee last 24 hours: High of 28, low
of 19. Sunrise at 7:24 a.m., sun
set at 4:06 p.m. Temperatures a
year ago today: High of 26, low
of 12. Extremes on this date since
1907: High of 45 in ,1937, low of
Gromyko Says Kremlin
Is Trying to Find Agreed
Solution on Berlin Crisis
MOSCOW (3 — Foreign Min
ister Andrei Gromyko said today
the Soviet Union is making every
possible effort to find an agreed
solution to the German problem
with the Western powers. But he
told delegates to the 22nd Com
munist Party Congress that if
this fails the Soviet Union will
go ahead and sign a separate
peace pact with East Germany.
Following Premier Khrush
chev’s lead, however, Gromyko
refrained from repeating earlier
Kremlin ultimatums that this
would have to be done by the end
of 1961.
Gromyko’s speech — or at least
that summary of it which was
officially released immediately —
seemed aimed at relieving ten
sion.
Nevertheless Gromyko declared
West Germany would 'become a
cemetery “in which one prob
ably would not find even grave
diggers” if German revenge
seekers and their friends threaten
the Soviet Union.
Gromyko told the Congress the
Soviet Union is ready “to go to
the end when it is necessary to
stand up for the right cause and
cramp the forces of aggression.”
Calling the meeting in Vienna,
Austria, last 'May between
Khrushchev and President Ken
nedy “one of the most outstand
ing events of our time,” he said
the interests of the Soviet Union
and the entire Communist camp
were “upheld with revolutionary
passion.”
Society Burglar
Is Still at Large
SEATTLE (ff\ — Society burglar
Thomas N. Fasenmeyer, object of
a nation-wide search since a jail
break here Sunday night, was still
an elusive fugitive today.
■Fasenmeyer, 32, son of a
wealthy Kansas City businessman,
I and Arthur St. Peter, 37, of Bel
levue, Wn., an habitual criminal,
were the only ones who succeed
ed in the mass escape attempt.
■Five others were quickly re
captured. One man fell to his
death from a 10th floor window
of the county jail.
The FBI joined the search for
Fasenmeyer the day after he got
away. He is a nationally known
jewel thief wanted in 11 states.
No clues to the whereabouts of
either Fasenmeyer or St. Peter
have turned up, authorities said.
Alaska Steam to
Get Brass Bell Back
SEATTLE — The great brass
bell of the historic Alaska
freighter and Atlantic liner SS
Victoria will be returned to Seat
tle, the Alaska Steamship Co. an
nounced.
The Victoria originally was
launched in 1670 as the Parthia,
and she sailed the Atlantic under
that name for the Cunard Steam
ship Co. before she was convert
ed to a freighter serving the Alas
ka trade as the Victoria.
When the Victoria went out of
service in 1952, her 260-pound
bell was turned over to the Cunard
Co. as part of a commemorative
exhibit aboard the modem liner
Parthia.
The Cunard Co. recently sold
the Parthia and it has agreed to
a request by Alaska Steam presi
dent D. E Skinner that it return
the bell to Seattle. Just how it
will be exhibited here is yet to
be determined.
Fallout Expected
To Reach Aleutian
Chain Tomorrow
WASHINGTON The initial
fallout cloud from Russia’s super
bomb test is expected to reach
the Aleutian Islands late tomor
row and Alaska or western Canada
late Friday. ’
This was reported today by at
mospheric radiation experts of the
U.S. Weather Bureau.
The cloud contains only a small
fraction of the total debris. The
rest is high in the stratosphere
and won’t begin to come down
until next spring.
The radiation experts said the
cloud, loosed by Monday’s big
blast in the Soviet Arctic region,
is expected to chalk up another
2,000 miles today on its west-to
east course, with the following
points, among others, to be passed
over today:
Northern Manchuria and south
east Siberia; then possibly the
northern tip of Japan.
After that it should swing
toward the Kamchatka Peninsula,
another part of Siberia.
“It should foe going toward the
Aleutians tomorrow, possibly
reaching there some time late in
: the day,” Dr. Robert List told a
reporter.
The U-S. Weather Bureau ex
plained that the first component
of the cloud to hit North America
will be essentially the high-alti
tude component, soaring at about
30,000 feet, bat mixing somewhat
with the lower atmosphere as it
travel s
They explained that lower-level
components of the cloud ordinarily
move more slowly than the high
flying component—which for the
present cloud is-traveling at up
to 80 miles an hour.
Public Health authorities are
gearded to detect the first fall
out in North America.
Jap Press Dubs Fallout
As “Ashes of Death”
TOKYO MB — Government sci
entists today warned all Japan
ese to protect themselves against
expected heavy radioactive fallout
from the Soviet Union’s giant nu
clear tests.
The fallout, dubbed “Ashes of
Death” by the Japanese press, is
expected to arrive over Japan
Friday or Saturday on winds from
the Arctic test range where the
30-to-50-megaton hydrogen bomb
was exploded Monday.
Meteorological Agency officials
warned in radio and television
broadcasts to the nation that no
rain water should be drunk be
cause it could carry radioactivity
to earth.
Anyone caught in a sudden rain
shower should immediately bathe
in tap water, they said, and vege
tables and fruit should be care
fully washed before 'being eaten.
Princess Margaret's Baby
Is Due In a Fortnight
LONDON UFi — Princess Mar
garet’s baby is expected within
the next two weeks.
“Sometime during the next
fortnight,” said a royal press of
ficer. “I mean either side of the
end of October.”
Sister Helen Howe, the 62-year
old royal midwife who assisted
in the birth of Queen Elizabeth’s
thrice children, has come to Lon
don from her home in Eastbourne
to be ready when needed for Mar