as NOME NUGGET
. OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 140 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1957 Per Copy—15<
Four Alaska National Guadsmen
Killed in Crash of C-47 Transport
Near Juneau in Light Snowstorm
JUNEAU, to—Four Alaska Na
tional Guardsmen were killed in
the crash of their plane during a
snowstorm Saturday night on Icy
Strait.
Their plane crashed near Gus
tavus, 20 miles west of Juneau on
the southeastern tip of the Glacier
•Bay National Monument.
Five of the seven survivors of
the crash are in St. Ann’s Hospi
tal here. Two others were re
leased.
The plane, a €-47 transport,
which is a military version of the
DC-3, was returning seven Alas
ka National Guardsmen from a
National Guard personnel confer
ence at San Francisco. The plane
took off with its seven passengers
and crew of four from McChord
Air Force Base at Tacoma, Wash.,
Saturday afternoon and was head
ed for its home base at Anchorage.
The last report from the plane
was a message Saturday at 7:45
p.m., during a light snowfall. A
few hours later a ground search
party, composed of nearly all the
32 residents of Gustavus, found
the WT-ecked plane, the four crew
men dead. None of the seven pas
sengers was seriously injured.
Killed in the still unexplained
crash were Capt. Robert E. Ka
fader, 37, pilot; 1st Lt. Dennis V.
Stamey, 29; S.Sgt. Floyd S. Por
ter, 29, and S. Sgt. David O. Dial,
Fairbanks Fire Causes Death of
Prominent Woman Biologist and
Estimated Damage of $1,000,000
FAIRBANKS, iff)—Fire started
by an unexplained explosion late
Saturday afternoon caused the
death of a prominent University
of Alaska woman biologist and
damage estimated at $1,000,000 to
a four-story business-apartment
building here.
The body of Dr. Druska Schai
ble, about 46, was brought down
ladders by firemen wearing gas
masks. Mrs. Schaible died in her
third-story apartment as smoke
and flames drove her from the
window.
The Lathrop building, housing
the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner,
the studios of radio station KFAR
and KFAR-TV and two floors of
apartments in which 40 persons
lived, was gutted above the first
fioor.
Early estimates placed the loss
to the $750,000 concrete building
and its contents at more than a
million dollars.
The fire was brought under con
trol early Sunday morning, about
seven hours after it broke out.
Fourteen firemen were treated for
smoke inhalation or other injuries
at Fairbanks and Air Force hos
pitals.
Police arrested two men on
charges of looting apartments.
George Sundborg, editor of the
News-Miner, was in his third
floor apartment when “an explo
sion of smoke” filled the upper
■part of the building. He raced
from his apartment to his office
and sent a running account to the
Associated Press over his teletype
equipment until smoke and water
forced him to leave.
He telephoned the rest of the
story from a building across the
street.
Sundborg said a theater in an
adjoining building was evacuated.
Many- of the apartment dwellers
lost nearly all their personal pos
sessions as they were taken down
ladders by firemen.
Sundborg said that new storm
windows were installed several
weeks ago but residents did not
know how to open them and
smashed them to escape.
The blaze, fought in 16-degree
weather, was battled by all avail
able fire equipment and firemen.
The News-Miner, owned by C.
W. Snedden, planned to publish
in its own plant today altho water
still dripped from the burned out
apartments overhead.
Utility workers and volunteers
worked thruout Sunday to clear
the water from the composing
room. The newspaper’s press,
housed in the Chena building next
door, suffered only slightly from
the water and was available for
use.
The Lathrop Builling, built by
and named for Austin Lathrop,
widely known businessman, was
completed in 1937.
In his report, Sundborg said
firemen now think fire started in
the apartment of Dan Redden,
manager of the Empress and La
throp Theaters here. Redden’s
whereabouts are at the moment
unknown.
Lights went out in all upper
floors of the four-story building
90 seconds after fire burst into
hallways.
34. All four were from Anchor
age.
The seven passengers were:
Lt. William Caldwell, 27, staff
assistant, 4 headquarters, 1st Scout
Battalion, Nome.
1st Lt. Wallace J. Harrison, 29,
staff assistant, headquarters of
2nd Scout Battalion, Bethel.
Capt. Robert D. Ellis, 33, staff
assistant for the 208th Infantry
Battalion, Alaska National Guard,
Juneau.
Lloyd Timmons, a regular Army
man attached to an Army security
station on the Kenai Peninsula.
He was ^hitch-hiking a ride north
to Anchorage.
2nd Lt. Harry S. Aase, 28, chief
of personnel for the territorial
military department, Juneau.
Warrant Officer (j.g.j Richard
J. Mueller, 39, administrative spe
cialist for the ANG, Juneau.
M/Sgt. James E. O’Rourke, 39,
unit caretaker, headquarters of
207th Infantry Battalion, Anchor
age.
The injured men were listed at
St. Ann’s Hospital as:
Caldwell, chin and tongue lac
erations and leg injury* Harrison,
apparently unhurt and released;
Ellis, fractured arm; O’Rourke,
minor injuries, released; Aase, el
bow, back and leg injuries; Muel
ler, back and hip injuries; Tim
mons, back injuries.
Snow Blankets
Northern States
(By The Associated Press)
Snow fell in some northern
areas and widespread rain hit
sections of the South today but
generally fair weather prevailed
in other parts of the country.
Snow was covering an area from
the Rockies to New England.
The heaviest snow reported in
30 years fell in western and south
ern Texas over the weekend. The
14 inches which blanketed Concho
County was a record fall.
Snow also fell at Laredo, on the
Mexican border, the first in more j
than 10 years. Temperatures at
Laredo, usually one of the nation’s
hot spots, dropped to freezing.
The frosty weather ruined the
tomato crop in the Laredo area
and nipped winter vegetables in
the lush lower Rio Grande valley
area at the southern tip of Texas.
Spellman To See
Overseas GIs
NEW YORK, Francis Car
dinal Spellman leaves Dec. 16 on ■
a flying round-the-world trip to
pass the holiday season with men
' and women in U.S. uniform for
the seventh consecutive year.
Cardinal Spellman, archbishop
of New York and Catholic mili
tary vicar to the armed forces,
plans a 33-day trip. He will go by
air from one military" installation
to another.
This trip will be his sixth
Christmas in Korea, where he •w)ill
land Dec. 24 and spend several
days. He will return to New York
Jan. 17 from Frankfurt, Germany.
Cardinal Spellman, 68, will
travel alone, using commercial air
lines in most cases. He will visit
Kodiak, Anchorage, Seoul, Oki
nawa, Taipei, Manila (for New
Year’s Day), Saigon, Singapore,
Bangkok, Colombo, Bombay, Ath
ens and Rome.
Todd and Taylor
Heading to States
TOKYO, UP—Showman Michael
Todd and his ailing wife, actress
Elizabeth Taylor, left for the
United States tonight.
They plan a brief stopover in
Seattle before continuing to Hol
lywood. They’re flying by way of
Alaska.
The couple interrupted a round
the world vacation after Miss
Taylor had an appendicitis attack
in Hong Kong, and said she would
go home for an operation.
Six U.S. Congressmen Set Record
In Flight From North to South Pole
McMURDO SOUND, Antarctica
<£>—Six U.S. congressmen flew
over the South Pole today and set
a pole-to-pole flight record.
They completed a trip from the
North Pole to the South Pole in
14 days, bettering the mark set
just a few weeks ago by Sir Hu
bert Wilkins. The veteran Aus-1
tralian explorer had made it in
35 days.
The congressmen’s plane, a U.S.
Air Force Globemaster piloted by
Lt. Col. Dixon J. Arnold, circled
over the U.S. scientific station
at the South Pole and dropped
supplies.
The Congressmen sent a radio
message to the station personnel.
Rep. Oren Harris (D-Ark) prom
: ised the representatives would tell
Congress about the valuable work
the U.S. servicemen are doing in
Antarctica.
Then the plane headed back to
the McMurdo Sound headquarters
of the U. S. antarctic research
teams. There the congressmen
met personnel from their home
states.
Reps. Torbert MacDonald CD
Mass), Steven B. Derounian CR
NY’, and Harris expressed the
opinion that ihe people back home
had not bernfullj informed of the
difficulties encountered in the j
duties here and the work being!
done for science and national se- j
curity.
The other congressmen on the j
trip are Reps. Robert Hale (R- j
Maine), Samuel N. Friedel CD-Md)!
and John J. Flynt Jr. CD-Ga).
CAN WE AFFORD TO CONTINUE
AS A TERRITORY’-GRUENING
-1
Diego Rivera Dies
Of Heart Attack
MEXICO, UP)—Diego Rivera,
whose violent painting and de
fiant politics made him a charging
bull in the world of art, died of a
heart attack early today in his
studio at suburban San Angel.
He would have been 71 Dec. 8.
Until plebitis paralyzed his
right hand and arm several weeks
ago, Rivera was working on three
paintings with the zest which
characterized his work for half a
century.
A heart specialist said yester
day the artist’s condition had be
come worse, but friends thought
he might live until the end of the
year.
Oppenheimer Dies at 77
JOHANNESBURG, South Afri
ca, MP>—Sir Ernest Oppenheimer,
South African mining magnate
and one of the world’s richest
men, died today at the age of 77.
Can we afford to continue to be
a territory was the startling chal
lenge of our Alaska-Tennessee
Plan Senator Ernest Gruening
when he addressed the public last
Friday evening in his report on
statehood.
This senator “has brought clos
er understanding between Wash
ington and Alaska, especially un
der his leadership as governor of
Alaska,” stated Mayor Steffen
Andersen in his introduction of
the speaker.
In the opinion of Sen. Gruening
the Alaska delegation of three
who have been in, Washington,
D.C.. since their election two years
ago have changed the opinion of
70 congressman, one by one, over
to favoring statehood for Alaska.
He added, “There are others we
have softened up.”
• “I think we are going to get
favorable results in the January
session of Congress.”
The main arguments *by the
U,S. senators arid representatives
opposed center on insufficient
population, noncontiguous to the
states, and that we can’t afford it.
Gruening has many assuring
answers for all these arguments,
• (Continued on Page Two)
Free World Safety Still Depends
On Manned Bomber Forces Until
Missiles Are Perfected: Twining
WASHINGTON, (JV-Gen. Na-1
than F. Twining told NATO sci
entists today that the safety of!
the free world depends on the
maintenance of manned bomber
forces until ballistic missile weap
ons can be perfected.
“The problem of maintaining
technological superiority” in the
face of recent Russian technical
advances, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff said, is one
“for the entire community of free
nations.”
Twining said development of
intermediate and intercontinental
missiles is proceeding under “the
highest national priority,” but he
added:
“Meanwhile ... we cannot dis
card systems of known capability
for those not yet in operational
readiness. In effect we must trav
el two roads simultaneously.”
Perfection of 1,500-mile-range
IRBMs and 5,000-mile ICBMs, he
continued, “will provide a tre
mendously improved deterrent in
strument for achieving the objec
tive of the free world—a true and
lasting peace.”
To achieve this, Twining said,
“the NATO government repre
sented here today must play a
vital role in a cooperative re
search effort. It will be necessary
to pool our scientific talent to
gether toward a common goal.”
The challenge to the free world
lies “in the area of future devel
opments,” Twining said. “The So
viet achievements indicate an all- '
out concentration on science and
technology resulting in a current
rate of growth exceeding that of
our own. So, in a relative sense,
our margin of technical advantage
is being steadily reduced.
“This challenge must and will
be met successfully,” Twining
continued. “If war is thrust upon
is, we will have to win it with the
weapons in hand. Time will no
longer be available to marshal our
resources.”
Ketchikan Youth
Shot and Killed in ,
Fight With Brother
KETCHIKAN, — Roy Black
well, 20, was shot and killed in
front of a downtown bar here
early Saturday. Police jailed his
brother, Ray Blackwell, 21. They
said the weapon used was taken
from officer Jack Webb. Webb
said he was trying to separate
the brothers. No charges have
been filed.