m NOME NUGGET
_OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA.—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 36_NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, MARCH 25, 1957 Per Copy—15*
Severe Blizzard in Midwest Is
Paralyzing Communications, Travel
(By The Associated Press)
The worst spring blizzard in
30 years continued to rage in the
Midwest today, paralyzing trans
portation and crippling communi
cations in many sections of eight
states.
One major train, carrying 400
passengers, and an estimated 7,500
•highway travelers were reported
stranded but none were believed
in danger.
Four deaths were attributed to
the storm.
The train was the Union Pacific’s
City of St. Louis, westbound from
St. Louis to Los Angeles. It was
mired in drifts ranging up to 18
feet near Winona, Kan., about 50
miles from the Colorado line.
Snowplows were expected to reach
it about noon today.
Another train, the Rock Island’s
eastbound 'Golden State Limited,
carrying 92 passengers, was
reached by rescue parties early
today and all aboard taken to
Meade, Kan. The train had been
snowbound by drifts up to 15 feet
between Meade and Plains, Kan.,
since Sunday. Six coaches of the
train were reported covered by
snow.
The weather bureau at Kansas
Mandeville Gets
Bear in One Shot
Paul Mandeville from Bering
Sea Club and Harry Pike of An
chorage are proudly displaying
their polar bear hides which they
were able to get after a 5 -hour
hunt out of Teller yesterday.
Pilots for the trip were Bob
Curtiss and Eldon Brandt, who
have been able to track down hears
for all the hunters who accom
panied them this year.
Mandeville, who has been an
ticipating this adventure for a
long time, says he got his bear
after three thrilling landings and
take-offs, with one shot from a
.270 custom made rifle, some
where in the Bering Strait above
Diomede Island about 8 miles off
shore in patch ice.
Both pelts measured over eight
1 feet, and will make beautiful
trophies.
City reported the storm was caus
ing high winds and heavy snows
this morning in northern Missouri
and southern Iowa as it moved
toward Illinois and Indiana. Snow
also was still falling in parts of)
Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska.
Conditions had eased somewhat
in Colorado, New Mexico and
Texas.
Forecasts for more heavy snow
were in effect from northeastern
Kansas and neighboring sections
of Nebraska eastward into parts
of lower Michigan and Indiana. ]
The snow belt was fringed to
the south by rain.
Despite the immediate hard
ships resulting from the three
day storm, farmers welcomed the \
moisture. In some areas it was i
sufficient to bring expressions of;
belief that the prolonged drought I
had been broken.
BLIZZARD IN BRIEF
(By The Associated Press)
The week-end blizzard on
the high plains paralyzed an
area almost 500 miles north
and south and about 300 miles
across. The elipse included
southwest Nebraska, the west
ern half of Kansas, the eastern
third of Colorado, all of the
Oklahoma and Texas pan
handles and the northeast tip
of New Mexico.
Dead — Two in Nebraska, f
one in Texas, one in Kansas. !
Maximum snowfall — 14
inches at Oakley in western
Kansas.
Maximum drifts — 20 feet
near Cheyenne Wells in east
ern Colorado. i
Wind velocity — estimated j
at 80 mph. in eastern Colorado.
Stranded — an estimated
7,500 motorists and bus and
train passengers, most of them
safe in emergency shelter.
Transportation — mostly at
a standstill.
Communications and power
— knocked out in wide areas.
Moisture — enough to break
drought which has plagued the
area for years, but in some
areas high winds blew the
snow off.
-:
Lucky Irishman Wakes Up As
Last Rites Being Administered
LOUIVILLE, Ky., UP) — Edward
McDonald woke up on the operat
ing table at Saints Mary & Eliza
beth Hospital. A Catholic priest
was administering last rites.
“I thought it was all over,” Mc
Donald Said.
But Mcr>onald had the luck of
the Irish with him, or, as he puts
it, maybe St Patrick was watching
over him.
McDonald was shot through the
heart o: St. Patrick’s Day. The
wound ciosed behind the bullet.
The 31-year-old Irishman is look
ing forward to having the lead
removed from his back today.
Surgeons said heart wounds do
ifot always prove fatal and that,
in this case, the bullet hit no other
vital organs or blood vessels. But
they added that chance played
a large part in McDonald’s sur
vival.
In that brief interval of con
sciousness that might have been
his last, McDonald thought of his
family. He wasn’t worried about
the Hereafter.
“I had Communion that morn
ing and I had just been given the
last rites. I just worried about
my family. We have two sons and
my wife is expecting.”
McDonald entered an inn with
a group of friends. They had “a
•sSuos Usui Sues pue 1(sjaoq Avaj
Several hours later, the group
began levaing. McDonald said he
heard loud voices inside the tav
ern. He returned and said the
bartender, William B. Collier, had
a gun pointed at McDonald’s cous
in and was threatening to shoot
him.
“I told the bartender not to
shoot him,” McDonald said yes
terday, “and he turned and shot
me. I hit the floor, then pulled
myself up. They put me in a
car and I blacked out. I came to
on the operating table.”
Mayor Will Speak
At Chamber Toihorrow
On How City Functions
A special feature of the noon
luncheon of the Chamber of Com
merce tomorrow will be a short
talk by Mayor Steffen Andersen,
on city government.
Just how the city functions,
what the duties of its elected offi
cers are, its most important pro
jects and the importance of its
work for the development of the
community are some of the things
Mayor Andersen will discuss.
House Approves
Alaska’s First
Bonding Program
JUNEAU, [ff\ — The House has
approved Alaska’s first bonding
program under authority granted
by Congress last year.
Late Saturday, the House
passed four bills which would
authorize 30-year general obli
gation bonds to finance four big
building projects. The total amount
involved is $4,700,000.
The projects include construc
tion at the University of Alaska,
National Guard armories at 10
cities, hospital improvements at
Anchorage, Fairbanks and Ketchi
kan, and a school building at
Bethel.
Stiff Competition
Likely for $1,000
In Dog Races
By mukluk telegraph and other
information received here it be
gins to look like the Dog Race
cn April 14th with its $1,000 in
prizes, will have a lot of com- :
petition.
Guardsmen from Sagoonga and
Gambell showed much interest
while here over the week-end and
hoped to send a team from
St. Lawrence Island if accommo
dation could be had on the plane.
One of the local dog team own
ers stated that two teams from
Wales are working out, and an
other from Golovin.
Teams are also interested in
Unalakleet, White Mountain,
Shishmaref, Shaktoolik and Teller.
Although no entries have regis
tered as yet, indications are that
there will be more than last year,
when eight teams entered.
Entries last year wre Edwin
Punguk, Arthur Trigg, Henry
Adams, Paul Tocktoo, John Ko
mok, Billy Nelson, Chester Top
kok, Clifford Attatayuk.
Last year’s winner, Chester Top
kok from Teller, covered the routs
in 1 hour, 35 minutes; with the
runner-up, John Komok, also from
Teller, with 1 hour, 42 minutes.
Eight Persons Killed
In Fight Over Tree
CALCUTTA, India, UP> — Eight
persons have been killed in a fight
in the village of Majli in Jaunpur
district for the possession of a
very special tree.
Press reports reaching Cal
cutta Saturday said the villagers
were “divided over ownership of
a neem tree, a large East Indian
plant also called the margosa. It
has a bitter bark supposedly with
remarkable medicinal properties.
One group claimed it had
bought the tree and started fell
ing it with axes. Other villagers
denied the tree ever had been
sold and maintained it belonged
to the village council.
The report did not say who got
the tree.
j Statehood Would Cost Alaskans
! Extra $2,150,000 A Year, Says Rivers
By FRANK W. VAILLE
WASHINGTON, ffl — State
hood would cost Alaskans an
extra $2,150,000 a year — includ
ing new tax revenues of $987,287,
a member of the territory’s un
official Congressional delegation
said today.
The estimate came from “Rep.”
Ralph J. Rivers of Fairbanks in
testimony prepared for a House
Territories Subcommittee hearing
on statehood bills.
As the hearing resumed on the
House side, the Senate Territories
Subcommittee also began delibera
tion of the statehood issue with
Delegate Bartlett (D-Alaska) as
its first witness.
Bartlett was to be followed by
Alaska “Sens.” Ernest Gruening
and William Egan, each of whom
has appeared before the House
subcommittee, and F. J. Rusing, j
Fairbanks banker.
$1,162,713 Extra Burden
In his statehood cost sheet,
Rivers estimated $1,162,713 for
what he called the “total extra
burden on Alaska as a state”
would be offset by non-tax rev
enues which would accrue to
Alaska as a state but which are
not received by the territory.
The $187,287 of estimated tax
revenue required under state
hood, he said, could be raised “by
a one per cent tax on property out
side of incorporated areas, or
other levies. . .
In his itemized discussion of
statehood costs, Rivers proposed
doubling the “present low fee
schedule” for hunting and fishing
licenses and partial use of rev
enues which pending bills provide
the state would receive from the
Probilof seal fishery.
New Highway Costs
Rivers charged statehood with
one million dollars in new costs
for trunk highway maintenance
but noted that this resulted from
use of provisions in the pending
bills which would give Alaska 78
million dollars in gradually re
duced amounts over a 15-year
period for construction and main
tenance.
This provision has brought ob
jections from the Budget Bureau
in view of Alaska’s inclusion for
the first time last year in the
Federal Highway Aid Act.
If removed from the bill, Riv
ers said, Alaska would receive
only about $13,141,000 a year
from the highway aid program
but would be allowed to use as
much of that as it required for
maintenance and thereby be “un
der less financial strain.”
Other Programs Assumed
For other programs which would .
be assumed by Alaska as a state,
Rivers estimated:
State court system, $1,100,000 of
which $500,000 would be offset by
fines and forfeitures
State land office $75,000, offset
by revenue from state domain.
Access road construction and
maintenance, $100,000, offset by
otherwise unused gas tax rev
enues.
Courthouses, jails and offices,
$200,000 including servicing of a
$4,000,000 bond issue to meet ini
tial building needs outside Ju
neau.
Legislature, $150,000 above
present expense contemplating a
60-member bicameral legislature
with annual sessions.
Governor and Secretary of State,
$100,000 for salaries and mainten
ance of governor’s house.
BILL TO END
j HANGINGS GOES
jTO GOVERNOR
JUNEAU, UP — A bill which
would end executions by hanging,
and any other form of capital
punishment in Alaska, has cleared
the Territorial Legislature and
now goes to the governor.
Under the bill, approved by the
Senate today on a 12 to 4 vote, the
maximum penalty for first de
gree murder in Alaska would be a
mandatory sentence of life in
prison at hard labor.
The bill, passed by the House
a month ago, provides the life
sentence may be for “any period
of years” — meaning a judge
could impose a sentence of such
a great number of years that a
parole would be impossible.
Eisenhower and MacMillan Wind Up
Meeting With Secret Policy Directives
By ARTHUR GAVSHON
TUCKER’S TOWN, Bermuda, UP)
—President Eisenhower and
Prime Minister MacMillan today
were reported to have spelled out
secret policy directives on key!
world issues in Europe, the Middle
East and Asia aimed at pinning
down the revitalized British Amer
ican partnership.
After the windup of the Big
Two’s four-day meeting, inform
ants said a number of solid writ
ten understandings lay hidden be
hind the generalities of their joint
800-word communique.
In their 11-point statement,
Eisenhower and MacMillan yes
terday announced the United
States will supply “certain guided
missiles” to help hard-up Britain
Streamline its defenses in the
atomic age.
They also offered to swap lim
ited observer facilities with Rus
sia at future nuclear weapon
tests — tests which they prom- !
ised to restrain to lessen the risks
of causing genetic damage as a
result of radioactive fallout.
Eisenhower also pledged U. S.
cooperation with the military com
mittee of the Baghdad Pact. This
pleased the five members of that
defensive alliance against possible
Communist aggression — Britain,
Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan.
But it stirred up resentment among
Arab states opposing the pact ally
ing one Arab country, Iraq, with
governments outside the Arab
League.
Eisenhower and MacMillan also
promised to support U. N. Secre
tary Dag Hammarskj old’s quest for
a settlement of the disputes with
Egypt over the Gaza Strip, the
Gulf of Aqaba and the Suez Canal.
Macmillan told a news confer
ence the talks had been a “great
success” because “we’ve reached
a number of conclusions on some
large issues. We’ve tidied up a lot ,
of points, and we’ve set in motion
methods of better cooperation on
questions still unresolved.”