23S NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
62nd Year No. 95 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1961 Per Copy 15^
Pan Am Jetliner Seized Over Mexico
. . . Lands In Havana With J>1 Aboard
NEW YORK UP — A Pan Amer
ican World Airways DC8 jet air
liner was hijacked over Mexico
today and forced to fly to Cuba !
with at least 81 persons captive
aboard it. It landed safely in Ha- j
vana in mid-afternoon.
American military planes fail
ed in an attempt to overtake and
divert it on its flight to Havana.
Two Air Force and two Navy
jet fighters took off from Florida
bases in a vain attempt to inter
cept the airliner. A Pentagon
spokesman in Washington empha
sized there was no idea of shoot
at the airliner. Instead, it was
planned to track it and perhaps
divert it.
Although three prior hijack
ings of American commercial air
liners since May 1 had led to a
federal authorization for arming
aircraft crews, Pan American said
the crew of the $5 million jet
liner was unarmed.
Among passengers listed on the
Pan American flight from Hous
ton, Tex., to Panama City, was
the Foreign Minister of Colombia,
Julio Cesar Turbay, his wife and
an entourage of aides. He was re
turning from an official visit to
Mexico.
Turbay has been one of Fidel
Castro’s most vehement South
American critics. His presence
aboard the airliner could well stir
up an international furor.
The White House said a demand
had been dispatched through
channels to the Cuban govern
ment for immediate return of the
jet, its passengers and crew.
Castro still holds an Eastern
Airlines propjet Electra hijacked
July 24, although passengers and
crew were released after being
held overnight.
The Pan American ship took 1
off from Houston, Tex., and was
bound for Panama City with stops
at Mexico City, Guatemala City
and San Jose, Costa Rica.
Pan American here was not
sure whether there were 72 or 76
passengers aboard the plane.
There were 9 crew members head
Angered Senators
Want “Death Penalty”
For Plane Hijackers
WASHINGTON UP* — Senators
angered by today’s hijacking of
another American plane demand
ed in the Senate tough new laws
to declare plane seizures an act of
piracy punishable by death.
Sen. Warren Magnuson, (D
Wn.). Chairman of the Senate
Commerce Committe, obtained a
suspension of Senate rules to
permit immediate consideration of
a bill proposing a mandatory life
sentence for plane hijackings.
Magnuson promptly proposed
an amendment to provide a
“mandatory death penalty.”
The swift consideration of the
measure had the joint blessing of
Sens. Mike Mansfield and Everett
Dirksen, the Democratic and Re
publican leaders.
Sen. Mike Monroney, the bill’s
actual floor manager, told the
Senate it may be that the Cuban
government had nothing to do
with the latest seizure.
If that is the case, he said,
Cuba could prove it easily by
jailing the “pirates” who seized
the Pan American jet and turning
them over to the United States
for trial.
—
HAVANA —The Cuban gov
ernment today gave permission
for the hijacked PAA jet liner
to leave, probably for Miami, and
the plane prepared to take off
with all passengers and crew ex
cept a man held as a hijacker. He
was not identified.
Before the release order came,
the passengers and crew seemed
unworried by the hijacking. News
men were not permitted near the
passengers but from a distance
they appeared to be laughing and
joking among themselves.
The takeoff had been expected
about 7 p.m., EDT, but was de
layed when it was discovered
there was no adequate jet en
gine starting mechanism at the
Havana airport. Airport officials
said an efort would be made by
using a mechanism normally em
ployed for turboprop planes.
ed by the pilot, Capt. Carl Bal
lard.
The plane was hijacked—ap
parently by a lone man—shortly
after it took off at 12:59 p. m.
from Mexico City. The crew
managed to flash a terse radio
message reporting the hijacking.
Mexican Government
To Protest Seizure of
Pan Am Jet Airliner
MEXTPO CITY UPI — The Mex
ican government said today it
will officially protest the hijack
ing of the Pan American jet
plane that was forced to fly to
Havana.
The Government Security Agen
cy said several Cubans aboard
the hijacked plane had arrived
in Mexico City yesterday under
false names and using false docu
ments.
Officials said the hijacking
case is under careful investiga
tion and no formal statement will
be issued until more is known
about it.
A Pan American sources here
said the company was not overly
concerned about the fate of the
seized jet.
“We have an agreement with
Cuba to fly in daily, and we do
not think they will hold the
plane,” said an official.
Three Geological
Survey Men Feared
Drowned in Spiridon Lake
KODIAK — Three men were
feared drowned when their boat
capsized in Spiridon Lake on Ko
diak Island about 5 p. m. Mon
day. A companion, George Carte,
20, of Tacoma swam ashore.
The men were identified by Ta
coma Geological Survey officials
as John Robert Savini, 19, Ta
coma; Robert Banarsdale Scott,
20, Tacoma; and Richard Rumph,
the group leader, Sacramento,
Calif. All four were members of
a Geological Survey crew making
a survey of the lake.
Carte removed heavy clothing,
swam 100 yards to shore, walked
six to eight miles to a camp on
the south end of the lake. From
the camp, he radioed Kodiak
Airways, which picked him up.
A cook at the camp walked to
the north end of the lake and a
Coast Guard air detachment plane
also searched, but was hampered
by fog and rain. Navy person
nel will search the area today
with a Coast Guard plane.
Northwest Says
J
AA *s Cargo Kales
Are “Un justified'’
' WASHINGTON UPl — North- i
west Airlines said yesterday that
cargo rate reductions between
Seattle and Anchorage and Fair
banks, jointly proposed by Alas
ka Airlines and the Railway Ex
press Agency, are unjustified.
Northwest said it was not filing
a complaint or asking for investi
gation and suspension, but was
concerned about the nature of the
service and the manner of divi
sion of the joint rates.
Northwest said the agreement
between the two companies pro
vides that Alaska will handle the
special-rate cargo on a space
available basis, after air mail,
passengers, baggage, air express
and air freight have been ac
commodated.
The tariff filed by the two
firms, however, provides that
shipments will be subject to avail
ability of suitable equipment and
space, but gives assurance that
they will move only after other
traffic has been handled.
Northwest said a shipper read
ing the tariff thus would assume
that he would receive “ordinary
and usual air freight service.”
Northwest also noted that Alas
ka’s share of the joint rate would
be the equivalent of the local
deferred-freight rate.
Northwest said that if the de
ferred-freight rate was to apply
then the service performed also
should be on a deferred basis.
“The board should not permit
Alaska to perform regular freight
service at a return equal to the
deferred freight rate,” Northwest
said.
Pacific Northern Airlines pre
viously had filed a complaint ask
ing that the rate proposal be sus
pended.
Labor Secretary Steps
Into Labor Dispute of
Metropolitan Opera Co.
NEW YORK iJP — Labor Sec
retary Goldberg has stepped into
the labor dispute that forced can
cellation of the Metropolitan
Opera Company’s 1961-62 season.
Goldberg, in Dallas to address
a convention, said Tuesday night
he had already spoken to the
president of the union and would
contact Met representatives to
day.
While officials battled against
time to forestall what music
lovers consider a tragedy of Wag
nering proportions, nearly all of
the Met’s singers made clear they
will consider themselves under
contract to the world-famous
opera company.
Two of them — Leontyne Price
and Rise Stevens — had cabled
Washington in a move that ap
parently precipitated Goldberg’s
intervention.
It was the union’s demand for
a wage hike that led to the can
cellation Monday. The Met said
the union had demanded a weekly
base pay of $248 for musicians—
a raise of $78 over last season.
The opera called the demand
“exorbitant” and said it could not
afford to meet it. Consequently,
I it released its singer from their
! contracts so they could make
I other arrangements.
Japanese Mark 16th Anniversary
Of Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki
NAGASAKI, Japan 04*1 — Hun
dreds of small candle-lit paper
lantern for the dead were cast
adrift on Nagasaki Bay tonight
marking the 16th anniversary of
the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
Sirens and bells sounded
j throughout the city as hundreds
of thousands joined in a minute
of silent prayer at 11:02 a. m. the
time the bomb was dropped Aug.
9, 1945.
Kremlin Hosts Cosmonaut Titov . . .
Nikita W ill Make a “Bigger Bomb”
Unless Prospects for Peace Improve
MOSCOW UP)—Premier Khrush
chev, welcoming Cosmonaut
Gherman Titov in the Kremlin,
told the West today that Russia
can make a bigger bomb than ever
and will unless prospects for
peace improve.
Among the prospects he wanted
to see was a peace treaty with
Germany and universal disarma
ment, but on terms that the West
has rejected.
It was one of the most belli
gerent speeches the Soviet Pre
mier has made in recent months.
Yet he interrupted every series
of warnings with the statement
that “we don’t want war.”
The reception in the Kremlin
climaxed a day of welcome to
Titov on his return to Moscow.
The 26-year-old flier was formal
ly decorated with beribboned
medals for Hero of the Soviet
Union and the Order of Lenin.
Kissed Khrushchev
Earlier in the day, Titov had
taken his welcome in Red Square,
kissed Khrushchev and other high
officials and himself warned that
if “the enemies of peace unleash
another war, the Soviet Union has
the wherewithal to crush the ag
gressor.”
Standing atop the Lenin-Stalin
Tomb, the 26-year-old Titov told
the applauding multitude jamming
Red Square his space flight was
dedicated to peaceful purposes
and “we use our mighty rocket
technique for the sake of pro
gress.”
But, he added, “we have all the
means necessary to rebuff an im
perialist attack, and I as a mili
tary pilot am ready to fulfill any
task given me by the Communist
party and the government.”
Titov said that his spaceship,
although completely automatically
controlled, could be guided by
manual controls to a landing on
any spot on the globe.
Led the Applause
Premier Khrushchev, standing
at the spaceman’s elbow, led the
applause after each of Titov’s
sentences.
The Soviet premier, following
the new Soviet hero to the micro
phone, said it was symbolic of
the greatness of the Communist
party that for the second time
Moscow was greeting a Russian
newly returned from space.
Speaking extemporaneously and
waving his arms and shouting, the
Premier declared: “We were the
first to build Socialism, we were
the first in space and we will be
the first to build Communism.”
“The most sober-minded leaders
of the West cannot help under
standing that Socialism is the
launching pad from which these
flights began,” he said.
Unmarked Patrol
Cars Will Be Used In
Ketchikan and Juneau
JUNEAU U’t — Unmarked pa
trol cars will go into service for
the State Police in Ketchikan and
Juneau in about one week, Com
missioner of Public Safety Martin
Underwood said today.
Insufficient personnel to
properly patrol the highways was
given as the reason for the un
marked cars. Underwood said his
department just did not have suf
ficient monies to employ the num
ber of patrolmen needed for sur
veillance of Alaska highways.
Underwood emphasized there
would be no hunting nor hiding of
the cars, only straight patrol ac
tivity. Troopers manning the ve
hicles would be in uniform.
Unmarked cars will be utilized
in the Anchorage and Fairbanks
areas as soon as they can be ob
tained, he said.
“We are aware of speeding and
drag racing on the highways,” Un
derwood stated, “and we hope by
using unmarked patrol cars we
can cut this out and make the
highways safe for the average
driver.”
Underwood added that, “nine
ty-nine per cent of the traffic
problem is licked if a patrolman
is on duty and can be seen by the
driving public. I hope that using
the unmarked cars we can achieve
the same effect,” Underwood con
cluded.
OUTBOARD MOTORS ON
GRACEFUL GONDOLAS . . .
VENICE, Italy Iff) — Outboard
motors on the graceful gondolas
of Venice? Ugh!
That’s the way city officials
feel about it and the gondoliers
are delighted.
Claiming modern motorboats
threaten to drive the lovely but
leisurely gondolas out of busi
ness, the boatmen dramatized
their complaint by hanging motors
on a few of the Canal City’s tra
ditional craft.
Shocked at the sight, officials
promised to slap speed limits on
motorboats and restrict the num
ber of licenses.
Albin Poison Passes
On This Morning
Albin Poison, well known pio
neer resident, passed away this
morning. He is survived by his
widow and a daughter, Mrs.
Lloyd Sundstrom, and three
grandsons, all of Nome.
He was a member of the Pio
neers of Alaska and very active
in the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows when that fraternal or
ganization was active here. Most
of his active life was spent in
mining in this area.
Mr. Poison came to the United
States from Sweden in 1905, set
tling first at Jamestown, N.Y. He
came to Nome in 1908 and it was
here in 1919 that he married
Jenny Nelson.
He worked in the gold fields
here at first, then later went
mining for himself on Center
Creek.
In addition to his mining in
terests he started the Poison
Water Co. in 1925 and this later
became the Pioneer Water Co.
Mr. Poison never left Alaska
in all the years he lived here,
although he made several trips
to Fairbanks.
Funeral services will be held
at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon at the
Lutheran Church.