2£ NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_j
VOL. LXII No. 98 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1960_Per Copy 151
Francis Powers Pleads Guilty At Trial
Eisenhower
Rejects Russian
Contention U.S.
Is On Trial Too
By JOHN M. HIGHTOWER
WASHINGTON, (<P— President
Eisenhower indignantly rejected
today Russian contention that the
United States is on trial along
with U2 pilot Francis Powers. He
called it a distortion of the facts.
The President told a news con
ference that evidence by Powers
so far does not indicate he has
been brainwashed.
Eisenhower protested against
Russia’s refusal to let any U.S.
embassy official or other Ameri
can government representative
see the flier.
Under international usage and
custom, Eisenhower told a news
conference, a foreigner accused
of crime is accorded the right to
see a representative of his own
government, but the Russians de
nied Powers that right.
He said in discussing the case
that he did not wish to comment
in detail on the trial or the
charges against Powers, because
that might not be helpful to the
flier.
He was asked what he thinks
about the Soviet Union’s main
propaganda line that the United
States is on trial along with the
3l-year-old pilot.
He replied that he does not see
it as being in any sense true. The
Soviets base their argument in
part on Eisenhower’s own earlier
comments on the Powers case.
In that earlier discussion Eisen
hower said such activities as
Powers’ were the only way this
country could get any information
on a closed society.
Today the President said that
in that comment the United States
had taken a new step in a modern
world, facing the realities.
Eisenhower said the govern
ment of the Soviet closed society
is constantly threatening the
United States and boasting about
its own strength.
Against this background, Ei
senhower asserted, the Soviet
Union cannot put the United
States on trial, and the claim that
this country is being tried along
with Powers is simply another
instance of the distortion of fact
in Moscow’s propaganda line.
Sourdough Reunion In
Oakland Starts Tomorrow
OAKLAND, Calif., UPL- Alaska
and Yukon gold rush days will be
relived again at the 29th Annual
International Sourdough Reunion
opening here tomorrow.
Oldtimers from 11 Sourdough
Clubs in Canada and the United
States, with a membership of
more than 1,500, began gathering
today for the 4-day get-together.
Letters and telegrams of ap
preciation for their help in de
veloping the Far North were sent
to the Sourdoughs from President
Eisenhower, Prime Minister Die
fenbaker, Alaska Gov'. William
Egan and former Alaska Govs.
George Parks and Frank Heint
zleman.
MOSCOW, l/P) — Francis Gary
Powers told a Soviet military
court today he is sorry he had
anything to do with his U2 flight
ov'er the Soviet Union.
Powers pictured himself as a
S30,000-a-year spy who disliked
his job and knew little if any
thing about the camera and re
cording equipment his plane was
carrying on its May 1 flight. He
said a superior officer had as
sured him it was safe to fly over
the Soviet Union.
At the outset of his trial the
American pilot, 31 today, pleaded
guilty. He then underwent more
than four hours of questioning by
Soviet prosecutor Roman A. Ru
denko before he was turned over
for quizzing by the Soviet at
torney assigned to defend him.
This attorney, Mikhail Griniov,
brought out that Powers was from
a working class family. He ques
tioned the pilot on how he felt
about the effects of the U2 inci
dent.
Powers testified that he had
“heard that as a direct result of
my flight the summit conference
did not take place and Eisen
hower’s visit was cancelled.”
Powers’ grief-stricken wife and
parents looked on as he testified
he had not been tortured but
treated “very nice” during 117
days in Soviet custody.
Powers is being tried on es
pionage charges. He can be sen
tenced to 7-15 years in prison—
or to death. His trial will resume
Thursday before the military sec
tion of the Soviet supreme court.
It is taking place before the
lights of Soviet television cam
eras in the Hall of Columns, site
of the purge trials of the 30s.
The prosecutor tried to prove
that Powers knew of the espion
age nature of his work.
“I was just a pilot,” insisted
Powers.
But he admitted at one point
that he knew his flight had to do
with gaining intelligence of the
Soviet Union.
"It was a flight I was told to
take,” he said. “I was not asked
whether I wanted to take it or
not.”
He was asked if he could have
refused to go.
“No, I could not refuse. By
refusing I would have been con
sidered a coward by my associates
and it would have been unfulfill
ment of the contract,” he replied.
This contract, he said, brought
him $2,50(1 a month.
Denying any knowldege of the
equipment his plane carried, he
said his only job was to make
it work under certain circum
stances according to instructions.
The defendant wore a civilian
suit and appeared well except for
a red mark on his face.
His voice was firm but grew
tired toward the end of the four
hour morning session.
Listening from a box in the rear
of the courtroom were his wife
and parents. Powers, diagonally
across the huge room and blinded
by television lights, probably
could not see them.
At the start of the trial a 4,000
word indictment drawn up by
Soviet prosecutors, and previous
ly made public, was read.
Asked then how he pleaded,
Powers said:
“Yes, I plead guilty.”
Kotzebue Branch
Of M and M Bank
Opened Monday
All of Kotzebue turned out
Monday to show their apprecia
tion and support to the new Kot
zebue branch of the Miners and
Merchants Bank of Alaska.
As soon as the doors opened in
the morning in temporary quar
ters next to Archie Ferguson’s
Store, the first depositor arrived.
He was Einer T. Anderson of the
Wien crew. Depositors as well as
those who came to congratulate
the new business continued to
flow through the bank all day
and long past closing hours.
During the afternoon coffee and
cookies were served with Mrs.
Evelyn Conway, city clerk of
Kotzebue, and Mrs. Don Hoover,
wife of the manager of the Miners
and Merchants Bank at Nome,
doing the honors.
The new branch is complete
with fireproof vault, bookkeeping
equipment and other facilities to
give Kotzebue full banking facil
ities. The business people were
most pleased to have a depository
and check cashing facility as well
as a source of currency and coin
for change.
In the afternoon a drawing was
held for two savings accounts,
with Maggie Swanson getting the
adult account for $25, and John
Kowunna a $10 account for the
children.
Gordon Osborne, the manager,
was welcomed by many Kotzebue
residents who remembered him
in the bank at Nome, at Polet’s
Store, in the Dream Theater
which he managed at one time,
and also at his shoe store in
Nome several years ago.
Special guests at the opening
of the bank were Mr. and Mrs.
Nels Swanberg Jr., Mr. and Mrs.
Don Hoover, Mr. and Mrs. Boyd
Harwood, Mary Diede, secretary
of the N.W.A. Chamber of Com
merce, and Mrs. Emily Boucher,
representing the Nome Nugget.
Much progress was noted by
the visitors in Kotzebue, with a
new post office building under
construction by Archie Ferguson
which will house a new theater
as well as the bank with 42 apart
ments planned on the upper floor.
A new hospital is under con
struction by the Alaska Native
Health Department and many
new homes are being built.
The guests enjoyed a complete
tour of the community includ
ing the new road which is about
finished, a visit to the beautiful
home of Republican candidate at
large for the Senate Edith Bullock,
the new ACS quarters, and the
many interesting shops and stores.
The tour was made through the
courtesy of Mabel Johnson of
ACS.
Permanente Cement Will
Build $5 Million Plant
Near Anchorage
LOS ANGELES, Ifl— Perman
ente Cement Co., announced plans
yesterday for a 5-million dollar
plant at Sutton, Alaska, adjacent
to the Alaska Railroad line.
The firm said it has filed claims
covering 240 acres of high-grade
limestone deposits near Anchor
age.
Initial productive capacity of
the plant will be about a half
million barrels of cement a year,
Permanente said.
Woolworth Bids $121,000
For Urban Renewal Area
In Heart of Fairbanks
FAIRBANKS, l/P> — The F. W.
Woolworth Co. Tuesday morning
submitted the sole bid for pro
perty in the Fairbanks Urban Re
development area.
The nationwide chain store bid
$121,000 for the tract located in
the heart of the Fairbanks busi
ness district.
The area now contains sub
standard buildings which will be
razed to make way for a new
business section.
The dime store chain is the sec
ond national firm to purchase pro
perty in the Urban Renewal area.
About a year ago, Safeway Stores
Inc., purchased an Urban Re
newal tract near the Woolworth
property.
Construction of the Safeway
Store was to have begun this
season but the Alaska Housing
Authority said difficulty over
title to the property caused de
lays. Construction is now slated
for the spring of 1961 for the
Safeway Store. Although no date
has yet been given for the new
Woolworth building here, it is
believed this, also, will go up in
1961.
When all land is sold in the
area, the city will have more
than a dozen new buildings in
an area formerly occupied by
tumbledown sourdough cabins.
House Unable to Muster
Quorum For Third Day
WASHINGTON, (J>t—1The House
tried mightily to muster 217 mem
bers and get into action today
but fell three short and was
forced to adjourn.
It was the third straight time
since the convention recess that
the House was forced to adjourn
for lack of a quorum.
Once again it was Rep. H. R.
Gross IR-Iowa) who forced the
nose count. As he has each day
of the reconvened session, Gross
insisted that no business be done
unless a majority of members
were preent as the letter of the
rules requires.
All the House wants to do,
actually, is adjourn until next
week when it will have some bills
to work on. But adjournments
forced by lack of a quorum carry
over only until the next legis
lative day. If not enough mem
bers show up Thursday the House
will have to come in Friday to
get the adjournment until Mon
day.
WASHINGTON, Uft — In his
opening prayer Tuesday, Senate
Chaplain Frederick Brown Harris
prayed for newsmen to be truth
ful in their writings and broad
casts.
Top Strategy Commanders
Meet In Pentagon In Face
Of Soviet “Truculence’
WASHINGTON, I/Pi — Military
commanders responsible for car
rying out global strategy assem
bled at the Pentagon today for a
conference on the state of readi
ness of the armed forces.
The meeting was against the
background of what President
Eisenhower has called the “in
creased truculence” of the Soviets.
Secretary of Defense Thomas
Gates Jr. summoned the eight
major military commanders to
meet with him and the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
Congolese Hold
Up Landing Of
U.N. Soldiers
LEOPOLDVILLE, — Congo
lese troops surrounded a plane
that landed 16 Norwegian U. N.
soldiers at Leopoldville's airport
today and threatened with ma
chine guns to bar them from the
Congo. The Congolese relaxed
and let them emerge only after
an hour of argument.
The Norwegians had been flown
in on a Belgian commercial
plane from Brussels. The Congo
lese considered they might be
Belgians.
The unit landed under the new
state of martial law proclaimed
for six months by Premier Pat
rice Lumumba last night in a new
defiance of the U.N. Congo Com
mand.
It was not clear what effect,
the volatile premier’s latest man
euver would have. He proclaimed
a state of emergency last week,
and Tuesday armed Congolese
troops and police searched living
quarters of Belgians and U. N.
personnel, arrested some Belgians
and detained some U.N. personnel
j briefly.
However, U. N. Secretary-Gen
eral Dag Hammarskjold and the
U.N. Command showed no sign of
bowing to Lumumba’s demand
that the U.N. forces be used tot
establish his government’s au
thority over dissident Katanga
province and other sections of the
sprawling nation that show signs
of wanting local autonomy.
Along with his proclamation of
martial law, the Congo premier
angrily accused the U.N. forces
of failing to carry out their duties
and making martial law neces
sary to meet the crisis in his
chaotic country. He demanded the
immediate withrawal from the
I Congo of the Swedish contingent
of the U.N. force whose loyalty
to Hammarskjold’s orders is un
questioned.
Alaska to Receive
$1,366,404 in Gas
Lease Revenue
WASHINGTON, UR—Sen. E. L.
Bartlett announced today Alaska
is to receive $1,366,404 within
two weeks as its share of revenue
from oil, gas and coal leasing
payments for the first half of this
year.
Under its statehood law, Alaska
receives 90 per cent of the rev
enue from such leases. Of the oil
and gas share, the state must
spend 37V£ per cent on schools
and roads. Other funds are spent
as the legislature decides.
These provisions, introduced by
Bartlett when he was the terri
torial Delegate to Congress, be
came law in 1957 and later were
incorporated into Alaska’s State
hood Act.
Including the current payment,
Bartlett said, Alaska will have
received $11,114,745 from oil and
gas leases and $265,809 from coal
leases since 1957.
HYANNIS, Mass., UPi — Mrs.
John F. Fitzgerald, 95, grand
mother of Democratic presiden
tial nominee John F. Kennedy,
was reported improving from
what was described as a mild
heart condition. She has been at
Cape Cod Hospital for several
days.