m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 72 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JUNE 17, 1957 * ' Per Copy—15*
Supreme Court Splits Six to One
To Free Five Communists and
Order New Trials for Nine Others
WASHINGTON, The Su
preme Court today turned free
five convicted California Commu
nist leaders and ordered new
Smith Act trials for nine others.
All 14 had been convicted in
1952 on charges of plotting to
teach violent overthrow of the
U.S. government.
As he has in several other re
cent cases involving the Red is
sue, Justice Clark dissented bit
terly. Clark, a former attorney
general, said the ruling “frustrates
the purpose of the Congress ... to
curb the growing strength and ac
tivity of the (Communist) Party.”
The court split 6-1 in freeing
the five outright on the ground
that evidence against them was
“clearly insufficient.”
Justice Harlan’s majority opin
ion said the Supreme Court had
to decide whether the Smith Act
forbids advocating the teaching
forcible overthrow as an abstract
principle, “divorced from any ef
fort to instigate action to that end,
Alaska-B.C. Ferry
Urged at Canadian
B of T Convention
SITHERS, B.C., UP)—'The Canadi
an government has been urged to
consult with the U.S. government
about a possible ferry service
linking Alaska with Highway 16
in northern British Columbia.
In a resolution at the 26th an
nual convention of the Associated
Boards of Trade of central B.C.,
the Canadian government was
asked *to “notify the government
of the U.S. of their desire to as
sist ... in providing a road
access for citizens of Alaska on
Highway 16 through the Port of
Prince Rupert.”
Alaska deltgates said the fares
for car ferries between Prince
Rupert and Alaskan points would
be equivalent to driving costs for
the 400-mile distance.
so long as such advocacy or teach
ing is engaged in wiih evil intent.”
“We hold,” said Harlan, “that
it does not.”
The 14 Californians were sen
tenced by U.S. District Judge Wil
liam Mathews in Los Angeles to
five years imprisonment and fines
of $10,000 each. 1
Protesting, Clark said the Su
preme Court “should not acquit
anyone here.” He wrote:
“In its long history I find no
case where an acquittal has been
ordered by this court on the facts.
It is somewhat late to start now
in usurping the function of the
jury, especially where new trials
are to be held covering the same
charges.
Black, writing for himself and
Douglas, said he “would reverse
everyone of these convictions and
direct that all the defendants be
acquitted.” He added:
“In my judgment the statutory
provisions on which these prose
cutions are based abridge freedom
of speech, press and assembly in
violation of the First Amendment
to the Constitution.”
Elsewhere in his opinion, Black
wrote:
“When the propriety of obnox
ious or unorthodox views about
government is in reality made the
crucial issue, as it must be in cas
es of this kind, prejudice makes
conviction inevitable except in
the rarest circumstances.”
13 Members
Appointed to New
Hiway Commission
WASHINGTON UP)—President
Eisenhower today appointed 13
members to the new Alaska In
ternational Highway Commission.
The commission was created
by Congress recently to study the
economic and military aspects of
transportation facilities connect
ing continental United States and
middle Alaska by way of Canada.
Named to the commission from
Congress were Sens. Barrett <R
Wyo) and Magnuson (D-Wash),
and Reps. O’Brien (D-NY\ Mack
(R-Wash) and Sisk (D-Calif).
Appointed to represent the ex
ecutive branch were Lewis S.
Rothschild, under secretary of
commerce for transportation; Liv
ingston Satterthwaite, director of
the State Department’s Office - of
Transportation and Communica
tions; Roger C. Ernest, assistant
secretary of the Interior; and
Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Browning,
deputy chief of the Army’s
Transportation Division.
Members representing the gen
eral public are Douglas McKay,
former secretary of the Interior;
Norton Clapp, president of the
Lakeside Co. at Seattle; and Chas.
G. Burdick of Juneau, an invest
ment banker.
Also named to the commission
was E. L. Bartlett, the delegate
I from Alaska in the House.
Woman Indicted in D.C.
On Murder Charge for
Slaying Former Fiance
WASHINGTON 0?)—Edith Lou
ise Hough, 41, was indicted today
on a first degree murder charge
for slaying ' her former fiance,
Russian-born Zurab Abdusheli, a
Voice of America translator.
Abdusheli, 44, was shot six
times with a .25 pistol in Miss
Hough’s fashionable Washington
apartment on Memorial Day.
The shooting occurred less than
three weeks after Abdusheli mar
ried another woman.
First degree murder, upon con
viction, carries a mandatory sen
tence of death in the electric
chair. Judges, however, give jur
ies an alternative of returning a
lesser verdict in cases where the
charge is first degree.
No woman has been executed
in the District of Columbia since
Mrs. Mary Surratt was hanged
for complicity in the slaying of
President Lincoln. She was con
victed by a military court, not a
civil court.
Car Overturns
| Near Satellite Field
Ruth Glavinovich is hospital
ized from injuries sustained when
the car she was driving turned
over near Satellite Field.
Her many friends are glad to
learn that her injuries are not
serious, it is reported, and she
will be about soon.
Her companion, Johnnie John
son, whose car she was driving,
was not injured. The ca,use of the
accident is reported to be a blow
out.
Tonsina Due 21st;
4,500 Tons Include
56 Cars & Trucks
The Alaska Steamship Com
pany’s SS Tonsina will be the
first freighter this season, and is
due to arrive Friday, June 21st.
The ship has all freight offered,
none was left on the docks, and
will be in Nome about nine days
to discharge 4,500 tons, which in
cludes 56 autos and trucks.
It is planned to use all men
available to expedite the unload
ing of the Tonsina, as many of
the materials aboard are urgently
needed for use in the various con
struction programs underway and
to be started. The rate of pay for
cargo work has been increased,
effective with this ship.
The Tonsina will not load any
southbound cargo from Nome, for
after completing discharging in
this area it will proceed to Bristol
Bay to load salmon. Therefore its
return to Seattle will not be until
the latter part of August.
The MV Palisana is scheduled
to sail from Seattle July 10th,
direct for Nome only, arriving
about July 20th. The Palisana will
load the southbound freight, as
it will return to Seattle before
the Tonsina does.
The Palisana carries all types
of cargo, dry, cold storage and
cool room.
The MV Tatalina, sailing from
Seattle July 2nd, will call at only
Kotzebue and St. Michael.
Student Rescued
From Icy Crevasse
SEATTLE, ifft—'The son of a
University of California professor
was rescued from a crevasse high
in the Cascade mountains yester
day after he tumbled into the icy
hole while climbing with three
companions.
Frank Tarver, 21, of Albany,
Calif., a sophomore at California,
suffered a broken leg when he
slipped on snow, fell over a ledge
and plummeted 50 .yards down
• the mountain and into the cre
vasse.
Tarver was climbing with three
Seattleites, Mary Pottinger, Nan
| cy Bickford, and Wesley Wilcox
at Snow Lake Pass.
Tarver, who said he was condi
tioning himself for a planned as
sault on Mt. Logan in Alaska later
this month, was rescued by a
Navy helicopter.
Soviets Come Up With Surprise
Disarmament Plan; Western Nations
Confer to Coordinate Reaction
Nothing Unusual in Ike’s j
Visits With Senators,
Says White House
WASHINGTON Iff)—’The White
House said today President Eisen
hower has been having various
Republican senators in to the
White House recently for unan
nounced “social visits.”
Press Secretary Hagerty told
about the visits in response to
questions about a published re
port that Eisenhower has been
seeing senators in an effort to get
his legislative program through
Congress. He said the President
has been seeing senators “infor
mally and socially from time to i
time at the White House” ever
since he took office in 1953.
Beam Nominated for
Ambassador to Poland
WASHINGTON UP>—President
Eisenhower today nominated ca
reer diplomat Jacob D. Beam to
be ambassador to Communist Po
land.
Beam, 49, now deputy assistant
secretary of State for European
affairs, has been in the foreign
service since 1931.
Beam succeeds Joseph E. Jacobs
in Warsaw. Jacobs has resigned
and will probably retire from the
foreign service.
11 LONDON, UP)—Western dele
gates met behind closed doors to
day to coordinate their reaction
to the Soviet Union’s surprise
proposal for an internationally
controlled ending of nuclear
weapon tests.
For the first time, the Russian
plan included Kremlin acceptance
of scientific international inspec
tion teams on Soviet territory as
well as on the territory of the
United States, Britain and in the
Pacific.
Observers felt that the propos
al, regardless of the sincerity
with which it was put forward,
gave the Russians at least a tem
porary propaganda advantage in
the involved five-power U.N. dis
armament talks in London.
Pressure meanwhile -mounted
on Prime Minister Harold Mac
Millan to push for a complete ex
ploration—if not outright accept
ance—of the Soviet plan.
The subcommittee is made up
of representatives of the U.S.
Britain, France, Canada and the
Soviet Union.
The new Soviet proposal was
clearly making an impact on Brit
ish political opinion. Britain’s op
position Labor Party intensifeid
its campaign to get the tests end
ed. Newspapers of various politi
cal views cautiously suggested the
time was 'approaching for the
British government to make a
new move.
In a weekend speech, Labor
Leader Hugh Gaitskell, who
would be prime minister in a so
cialist government—u r g e d the
West to call the Russians’ hand.
“Somg may say that the Rus
sians are not to be trusted and
don’t really mean it,” Gaitskell
declared, “but surely the right
course then is to test the Russians,
not the bombs.”
The Soviet delegate offered
Friday to admit Western inspec
tors if agreement was reached on
a nuclear test ban. He suggested
a two- or three-year suspension
of tests. Western sources called
the offer a major step forward in
disarmament negotiations but said
many details must be clarified.
Fisherman Adrift
For Five Days
Saved by Flare
MONTEREY, Calif., OB—“Two
lousy matches” saved a commer
cial fisherman from the Pacific
after five lays adrift in his dis
abled salmon troller.
“I was down to two lousy
ma'tches,” said Jack Coats of Eu
reka, Calif., when rescued before
dawn yesterday. “But I was
ready.”
After drifting 200 miles thru
fog and heavy seas, Coats, 32,
soaked his shirt in gasoline and
waved it for a flare. That was at
1 a.m. Sunday morning when he
saw the lights of the destroyer
George Anderson bearing lown
on him 22 miles off Monterey.
Even tho he had eaten only raw
fish, a nubbin of mouldy bread,
five vitamin pills and two quarts
of brackish wtaer left over from
last season, Coats refused to leave
his boat, the Gojoc. The Anderson
kept him under her floodlights
until a Coast Guard cutter arrived
to tow him to port.
Coats was in good condition,
and drove home with his wife.
He vanishel last Tuesday when
he took his 36-foot boat out for a
test. His battery failed, the en
gine wouldn’t start, his radio was
dead and a fog closed in.
Before he finally fired it with
his last two matches, he spread
the shirt on deck in the fog arid
then wrung the water from it to
drink.
Tricycle Pedaler
Crosses Country
LOS ANGELES, tP)—A man
whose goal it is to tricycle from
St. Petersburg, Fla., to Juneau.
Alaska, has gotten as far as Los
Angeles.
Wilford F. Wright, 57, pedaled
his adult-sized, chain-driven trike
into town displaying a deep sun
tan and an equally deep deter
mination to continue his tricycle
tour of North America.
A sales representative from a
Bay Pines, Fla., tricycle firm,
Wright estimates he has covered
about 130,000 miles on three
wheels since he took up the tri
cycle in 1936 to combat an attack
of multiple sclerosis. He claims
the treatment has halted the ad
vance of the crippling disease.