™2 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 150 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1954 Per Copy—15?
I
Cleveland Doctor
Convicted 2nd Degree
Murder In Death of Wiie
CLEVELAND. l/Pt—Dr. Samuel
Sheppard, boyish-faced defendant
in a sensational murder trial was
convicted yesterday of second de
gree murder.
A jury reached that verdict,
which does not carry the death
penalty, after five straight days
of deliberation.
Still protesting that "1 am not
guilty,” Sheppard was sentenced
immediately to life imprisonment.
The state had asked the death
penalty. It contended Sheppard
bludgeoned his pregnant wife,
Marilyn, to death after an argu
ment over his affairs with other
women.
Sheppard insisted she was kill
ed by another man, probably a
burglar, who invaded their com
fortable home on the shores of
Lake Erie.
His lawyers promptly announc
ed they will appeal for a new
trial. If it is denied, or goes
against him a second time, he will
be in prison at least 10 years.
Then he would be eligible for pa
role.
Daddy Won't Be Home For Xmas
CLEVELAND, Ifl—Seven-year
old Chip Sheppard stood a few
feet from the Christmas tree in
his uncle’s home when they told
him: ‘‘Your daddy won’t be home
for Christmas.”
The boy heard the news quietly.
Then he walked slowly upstairs
to his room. There, in the awk
ward fashion of youngsters, he
wrapped a gift for his father, Dr.
Samuel H. Sheppard.
The gift will be delivered to a
•cell in county jail where Dr. Shep
pard has been confined since July
30.
Pope Pius Very Weak i
VATICAN CITY, ‘^—Reliable
Vatican sources said today that
Pope Pius XII passed a poor
night, sleeping neither well nor
very much.
These sources said the ailing
head of the Roman Catholic
Church remains very weak. But
they described his general condi
tion as about the same as yester
day.
He went for a brief walk and
automobile ride in the gardens
shortly after noon today.
North Sea Hurricane
Buffets England, Germany
LONDON, (1PI—Hurricane winds
and mountainous waves hammer
ed shipping in the North Sea to
day and raised grave fears for 40
men aboard two stricken vessels.
Damage ashore, too, was heavy,
and a few dikes gave way in Ger
many and the Netherlands.
Of a dozen ships in trouble of
varying degree, the 1.352-ton Bel
gian freighter Henri Deweert and
the 1,371-ton Swedish freighter
Petra apeared hardest hit.
Northwest Airliner Is
Used For Target Practice
By Chinese Gunners
TOKYO, l/pi —The crew of a
Northwest Orient airliner which
arrived tonight from Hong Kong
reported seeing distant shellbursts
after leaving Taipeh, Formosa,
today for Okinawa.
“It was nothing to get con
cerned about, it was so far away,”
said Walter Bullock, veteran pilot
of the DC-4. He said his plane
was over water when he saw
three shellbursts to the right, two
about five miles away and one
about a mile away after his plane
carrying 23 passengers left Tai
peh.
Capt. Bullock declined to spec
ulate on who fired the shells. But
a Northwest Airline spokesman in
Tokyo said later information from
Taipeh indicated it was routine
practice firing of Chinese Nation
alist antiaircraft guns.
The plane was over Chinese
Nationalist territory at the time.
Heavy Quake Shakes
Eureka. Calif., Causing
$2,000,000 In Damage
EUREKA, Calif., I/P—The 40,000
people of this redwood logging
country waited today in fear of
expected aftershocks from yes
terday's teeth-rattling earthquake
which killed one man, injured 50
and caused an estimated $2,000,000
property damage.
A geology professor, H. D. Mac
Ginitie of Humboldt State Col
lege, predicted the aftershocks
but said they should be less vio
lent than yesterday’s rolling trem
blor which twisted foundations
and cracked walls across a 35
mile coastal area centering on
Eureka.
The quake was the worst here
in 25 years and was the second
heaviest of a series of tremblors
which have shaken California and
Nevada recently. The University
of California estimated its Richter
scale magnitude at 6.5, compared
with the San Francisco earth-1
quake of 1906 which is estimated I
at 8.25. The Richter scale meas- I
ures the actual violence of the |
shock; not the damage done to
human habitations.
_
Post Office To Be Closed
Closed All Day Friday
According to presidential proc
lamation the Post Office will be
closed on Friday, all day.
People having notices for pack
ages are asked to relieve the Post
Office by picking up their mail
on Wednesday and Thursday.
The staff at the Post Office will
accomodate the public on Friday,
however, by phoning those who
may receive packages on Friday’s
plane so that they may have them
for Christmas.
All other federal and territorial
offices will observe the Friday
closing.
Army Reports
Successful lee
Fog Eliminator
WASHINGTON, (tfh—Army en
gineers today reported successful
tests have been completed in Al
aska on experimental ice fog
eliminators.
It marks a definite advance, the
engineers said in their announce
ment, in the solution of the ice
fog problems at air bases in in
terior Alaska.
Ice fog results from the dis
charge of exhaust gases from com
bustion devices into atmospheres
frequently as low as 24 to 40 de
grees below zero. It causes low
visibility which seriously ham
pers aircraft operations.
The engineers' research and de
velopment laboratories said the
field tests involved ice fog elim
inators incorporated into two six
horsepower engines. Without
eliminators, fog appears as a
plume 60 to 70 feet downwind
from the exhaust of the two en
gines. Only slight traces of fog
were visible when eliminators
were used.
The eliminators were developed
by Armour Research Foundation
under contract with the labora
tories. They condense the moist
ure from engine exhaust gas by
cooling, mix it with cold moving
air and finally reheat the mixture
and discharge it to the atmosphere
fog free.
Stevenson Says It Is No
Time To Relax Our Guard
WASHINGTON, i#t — Adlai E.
Stevenson said today that al
though he does not regard war
as imminent there is “little pros
pect that we can safely reduce our
defenses or relax our guard” in
1955.
Stevenson set forth this view in
a Look magazine symposium of
predictions for the New Year.
He said he sees “no present pros
pect for a change in the Com
munist policy of creeping con
quest” short of an all-out world
war, and he added:
“We will have to coexist with
our ruthless, ambitious, implac
able Communist neighbors whe
ther we like it or not, for it is
either coexistence or no exist
ence in the atomic-hydrogen age.”
Stevenson’s judgment that
Communists have not changed
their basic policies paralleled a
news conference statement by
Secretary of State Dulles yester
day that Russia has shifted from
a cooing dove to a tough-talking
phase without altering aims of
world domination.
In the magazine symposium
Sen. Knowland of California, the
GOP Senate leader, singled out as
the “overriding question” in 1955
the turn this country’s policies
will take in dealing with inter
national communism.
Mississippi Prepares To
Abolish State Schools To
Reta’n Racial Segregation
JACKSON, Miss., dPi—Missis
sippi gave its legislature life or
death power over its public
schools, voting two to one yester
day for a* constitutional amend
ment to permit legislators to abol
ish state-support schools if neces
sary to retain racial segregation.
Gov. Hugh White, one of the
amendment’s strongest backers,
said he expected to call today for
a special legislative session for
Jan. 11 to provide funds for bring
ing separate negro schools up to
the level of white schools.
State officials believe negroes
would rather have good segre
gated schools than no schools at
all.
Returns from 1,191 of the state’s
1,825 precincts showed 84,665
votes for the amendment and1
36,412 against it.
Gov. White said schools would
be abolished under the amend
ment only as a last resort. The
amendment would permit the leg
islature to turn school facilities
over to private groups and to sub
sidize private schools.
Today Is The First
Day of Winter
Today was the first day of the
winter season and it felt just like
winter in wide areas in the east
ern half ol the nation.
A northeast snow storm which
whipped across New England left
up to more than a foot of snow
in some sections. At least 12 per
sons lost their lives due directly
to the storm.
The winter season started of
ficially at 4:25 a.m. Wednesday is
the shortest day of the year, with
the sun at the southernmost point j
in its orbit.
There was slight warming in
the Florida area. The cool weather
in Miami brought a rush of buy- l
ers for oil, gas and electric heat
ing units. Firewood sold as high
as $75 a cord.
November Food Price
Index Down O.G Per Cent
WASHINGTON, UP),—The gov
ernment reported today that its
consumer price index rose one
tenth of one per cent in Novem
ber. But if you didn’t buy a new
car your living costs actually
went down.
New car models arriving on the
market, although list prices were
virtually unchanged, boosted the
auto price index sharply because
1954 models had been selling at
big discounts.
Otherwise the price news for
consumers was good. Food prices
fell 0.6 per cent.
The consumer price index for
November stood at 114.6 per cent
of the 1947-49 average, down 0.8
index points from the all-time
peak in October. 1953 but 12.6 per
cent higher than in June 1950,
just before the Korean war.
PNA Employes Enlist Aid
Of Washington Solons In
The States-Alaska Case
SEATTLE, l/pi — A group of
Pacific Northern Airlines em
ployes say they have won Wash
ington Rep. Tom Pelly’s support
in their fight against a rumored
CAB decision to end the line’s
States-Alaska service.
The group, which included Ray
McLane, Harold Honeywell, Lloyd
Woodward and Bill Mitchell,
conferred with Pelly yesterday.
Today they plan to meet at
Olympia with Sen. Warren Mag
nuson and Gov. Arthur B. Lang
lie.
The report of the expected
CAB decision was carried by an
aviation trade publication in the
east several days ago. However,
it has not been confirmed and
such publications’ “reports” have
varied from the final outcome
in past instances, persons close to
the industry say.
_
Mendes-France Calls For
Strong Endorsement
Of The Paris Accords
PARIS, IjP — Premier Pierre
Mendes-France called on the na
tional assembly today to approve
the Paris accords by a big major
ity, saying a feeble endorsement
might have the same disadvan
tages as rejection.
He interrupted a critical speech
by former deefnse minister Jules
Moch in this third day of a four
day debate to press for ratifica
tion of the agreements which
would free and rearm West Ger
many in the Western defense
lineup.
Moch, a Socialist, had contend
ed German rearmament may no
longer be necessary in view of the
development of atomic weapons.
Mendes-France declared force
fully that the first necessity is
for the West to define its position
clearly. He said negotiations can
be carried on more fruitfully be
tween the East and West after the
North Atlantic Treaty Organiza
tion, which the rearmed Ger
many would join, is completely
solidified.
7-Year-Old Boy Is
Named Santa Claus
• NORMAN, Okla., U*)—Ever hear
of a 7-year-old Santa Claus?
There’s one in this city—home
of the University of Oklahoma.
Santa Michael Claus is the son
of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Claus.
The youthful Santa was born in
Kilgore, Tex., Oct. 20, 1947.
And how did he get that name?
His sister, Wanda Lou, now 23,
suggested it because there had
never been anyone in the Claus
family with that name.
Young Santa says he really
likes his name but most people
don’t believe hint so he just says
his name is Mike and lets it go
at that.
Christmas Party Thursday
AMERICAN LEGION HALL 8:00 P.M. ALL LEGIONNAIRES AND GUESTS CORDIALLY INVITED