ss NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVTII No. 85 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 1956_ Per Copy—15*
20 Tons ... Jade
A huge block of genuine jade
weighing more than 20 tons
reached the Arctic port of Kot
zebue last week after a five-year
200-mile trip from the mine at
Jade Mountain.
The owners, Imperial Jade Co„
of Kotzebue, who operate the
mine, have kept the huge block
of gemstone intact as it is by
far the largest piece of fine jade
ever found. Although containing
approximately 4,000,000 ring sets,
the block will not be used for this
purpose. Imperial Jade, which ex
ports jade to all parts of the
world, feel that its size and qual
ity would ruin the jade jewelry
market for all time.
This block, maximum measure
ments 5x5x16 feet, will be sold
only for the purpose of carving
into an outstanding monument.
For the time being it will be kept
in storage by Gene Joiner at Kot
zebue.
Several Guests Made
Violently 111 by Punch at
Ambassador’s Reception
SEOUL, UP>—A punch served at
a reception for U.S. Ambassador
Walter Dowling really packed a
wallop, so powerful it made some
of the American and Korean
guests violently ill.
No one had to be hospitalized,
and most of the ailing had recov
ered by today.
The reception for the newly ar
rived ambassador was given by
U.S. Charge d’Affaires Carl Strom
and U.S. economic coordinator
Tylp W. Wood.
Two punches were served but
the ill effects appeared to stem
from rum and lemon. An Army
medical officer who investigated
aaid the hotel’s water supply and
ice were not contaminated and all
* Korean employes were free of
disease or infection.
Teen-Age Mother Gives
i Birth Unassisted, Walks
Mile and a Half for Aid
PUEBLO, Colo.. liW—A teen-age
mother gave birth unassisted to a
premature taby in an isolated
farmhouse north of here, then 16
hours later walked a mile and a
half for aid after the infant died.
‘‘I was scared all the time,”
said Mrs. Benjamin Long, 16,
whose husband is a trapper for
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser
vice.
”What I learned was from a
baby book. 1 found out that the
book doesn’t know it all either.”
2nd Division Gets
$145,000 For 1956
Road Construction
JUNEAU — Work orders for
$1,218,275 in road construction
during the 1956 season have been
issued by the office of the Terri
torial Highway Engineer to the
Alaska Road Commission, it was
announced this week by Engineer
Irving Reed. Of the total, $1,118,
500 is for new construction and
the balance for reconstruction,
maintenance and surveying.
By divisions, the 1956 work
orders are as follows:
First, $50,375; Second, $145,000;
Third, $486,300. Fourth, $536,000.
An additional $45,300 in the 3rd
Division and $15,200 in the 4th
will be issued later, Reed said.
The total program of the Terri i
tory in each Division, including
other projects aside from those
for which work orders to the
Road Commissioners have been
or will be issued.For the 2nd Div
ision, $243,00 construction and
$12,000 engineering and design.
$145,000 has been set for the
Nome - Kougarok road, which is
new construction.
Defense Says Sgt. McKeon Owes
Apology to No One for Death March
PARRIS ISLAND, N.C., i*—
The defense maintained today S.
Sgt. Matthew C. McKeon owed
“no apology to anyone” for the
night march in which six marine
recruits drowned. .
McKeon, 31, is appearing be
fore a general court martial. He
is the man who led 74 recruits on
a night march into a tidal creek
April 8. Six did not come back.
Defense Attorney Emile Zola
Berman said he would attempt to
prove that the methods used by
McKeon on that fateful night
“were part and parcel, the warp
and woof” of the methods “by
which this corps had made its
wonderful tradition."
McKeon, whose home is at
Worcester, Mass., pleaded inno
cent yesterday to the two major
charges against him—involuntary
manslaughter and oppression of
recruits.
On two minor charges, drinking
in barracks and in the presence
of a recruit, he said nothing. As a
result, the court ordered the
court-martial to proceed as if he
had pleaded innocent.
Berman said in his opening state
ment, “Nowhere in the charges . . .
is there one word or charge or
suggestion . . . that the accused
was either drunk, intoxicated or
under the influence of alcohol in
the slightest.”
The defense hopes to prove that
at the time, “in terms of Marine
Corps training the platoon was
not sharp, was not disciplined.”
“There were • two minor events
that fateful day, minor to me.
Other drill instructors reported
that the platoon which was sup
posed to be working was indeed
lolling around ... a field day was
ordered.
“It was an order of the senior
drill instructor (McKeon was a
junior) that since the platoon was
on the rifle range there would be
no seconds at mess except sec
onds of protein—and no desserts.”
(There is a theory in the Ma
rine Corps that the eating of
sweets affects your aim when
you are firing rifles. The theory
goes that the sugar intake must
be controlled since the body con
verts sugar to alcohol—and alco
hol is bad for good shooting.)
Action Taken
To Help City
;Get Federal Bldg.
The interesting meetings of the
Chamber of Commerce are draw
ing larger attendances each week
at the noon luncheon meetings at
the Polaris with president Stan
Morgan arranging stimulating
programs.
Yesterday the Chamber report
ed on action being taken to help
the city acquire a portion of the
present Federal Building as a
City Hall when the new Federal
Building is completed. Part of the
present building has been con
demned but the east portion could
be used, it was reported. A letter
from Delegate Bartlett gave his
support to the city and chamber
in this project.
The Chamber appoir ted a spe
cial committee, headed by Dr.
Langsam, to investigate why
i Alaska Airlines was not permit
I ted to land at Pt. Barrow on its
excursion last Sunday.
The Chamber is shoeing con
siderable interest in establishing
a Pioneer Day or Week sjuch as
the Golden Days in Fairbanks
and the Anchorage Fur Rendez
vous. For many years the N.W.
i Alaska Fair was held for this
purpose but for the last several
years Nome has not had a unique
festivity of its own. A committee
composed of Ernie Bohrer, Rev.
Thos. Knudson, Jim von cler
Hedyt and George Goshaw will
work on the project.
Bill Lammon, of the Anchorage
Chamber was a guest at the meet
ing.
Girl, 14, Killed
In Teen-Age Brawl
NEW YORK, iff!—A 12-year-old
girl stabbed a 14-year-old girl to
death in a Brooklyn subway sta
tion last night in the climax of a
series of brawls involving a score
of girls from 12 to 17.
Evelyn Orr, who lives not far
from the Navy Yard, died after a
number of knife wounds—one in
the heart.
Seventeen girls were arrested.
Most of them, including the slay
er, were charged only with juven
ile delinquency.
Names of the children, all Ne
groes, were not made public be
cause of their ages.
Police said petty childish bick
ering, rather than gang rivalry,
apparently led to the violence.
On the subway platform police
found two knives—both long
bladed instruments of the kind
used by butchers for boning meat.
COMPLETED CYCLE
CHESTER, England, (*>—On
April 28, 1953, Mrs. Lillian James
divorced Humphrey James on the
grounds that he had misbehaved
with Miss Irene Mansell.
On April 4, 1955, Mr. James
having promised to be good, Mrs.
James remarried him.
Monday Mrs. James won a sec
ond divorce on the ground that
Humphrey had misbehaved again
—with Miss Irene Mansell.
| DR. KENNEDY COMMITS SUICIDE
I_
I
'Gen. James Van Fleet
Recovers From Operation
GAINESVILLE, Fla., IAV-Gen.
James A. Van Fleet was reported
today in satisfactory condition
after emergency operation for a
gangrenous ^appendix.
The U.S. 8th Army commander
in the Korean War was operated
on at Alachua General Hospital
yesterday after complaining of
stomach distress.
His condition was reported to
be satisfactory.
Social Security
Bill Passed by
Senate 90 - 0
Democrats Hail Bill's
Passage as Historic
WASHINGTON, lift—Jubilant
Democrats today hailed their Sen
ate victory on the social security
bill as marking a historic expan
sion of protection and retirement
benefits for American families.
The Senate last night, after a
12-hour session, passed 90-0 the
bill permitting qualified women
to start drawing retirement pay
ments at 60 instead of 65 and
totally disabled persons to receive
benefits starting at age 50. The
six absent senators also were re
corded as favoring passage.
But the Democrats squeaked
through by only a two-vote mar
gin, 47-45, on the most exciting
battle of the debate—the proposal
by veteran Sen. George <D-Ga) to
put the disability program into
the bill. Voting for it were 41
Democrats and 6 Republicans,
while 38 Republicans and 7 Dem
ocrats opposed it.
Sens. Long <D-Lai and Douglas
(D-Ill) both told a reporter they
considered that the Senate’s de
cisions on the bill established a
landmark in the 21-year history
of the social security system.
Long said the originators and
backers of the system have been
striving since the 1930s to get dis
ability payments written into the
law. They say this now completes
a trinity of protection which here
tofore has included retirement
and survivor benefits.
Democrats discounted any threat
of a presidential veto.
Eisenhower Requests
$68 Million More for
CAA for Safety Program
WASHINGTON, UP)—President
Eisenhower asked Congress today
for an additional $68,043,000 for
the Civil Aeronautics Administra
tion to speed up development of a
5-year air traffic safety program.
This step in the program is
aimed at meeting the increased
use of commercial jet transports
in the immediate future.
Press secretary James Hagerty
said the decision to speed up the
program was not related directly
to the collision of two airliners
over the Grand Canyon recently
although that accident empha
sized the need for increased air
traffic safety facilities.
1 Dr. Maxwell R. Kenne
dy, age 41 years and a res
j ident here for 15 years,
| was found dead in his
I home yesterday.
Upon the request of
friends who had not seen
the doctor for several days
U.S. Marshal Bob Oliver
b»oke into the house and
found the body and guns,
one of which caused his
death.
It is reported that Ken
nedy had bqen dead about
48 hours.
Kennedy, who has been
in poor health for some time and
who has been irregular about
keeping his appointments, is well
known to people throughout all
of northern Alaska, as he is the
only dentist in the entire area
and served not only the people of
Nome but those from the sur
rounding villages.
He was generous with his
lime and acted as veterinarian
for the many pets in the com
munity without compensation.
As a private flyer, he partici
pated in many searches for
missing planes and used his
plane in many ways to help
miners and help in emergencies.
He is survived by his wife, who
is nursing at Mt. Edgecumbe; his
mother and father of Galesburg,
111., and a sister and brother.
An inquest will be held this
afternoon. Funeral arangements
have not been made, pending
word from his family.
Curfew Imposed on
250,000 U.S. Troops
In West Germany
HEIDELBERG, Germany, Wi—
The U.S. Army imposed a curfew
today on its 250,000 troops in Ger
many in an effort to curb GI
crime.
An order issued by Gen. Henry
I. Hodes, commander of the U.S.
Army in Europe, requires soldiers
to be in their quarters by mid
night on evenings prior to duty
days and by 1 a.m. on evenings
prior to nonduty days.
“This command has been in
creasingly disturbed in recent
weeks by unfortunate incidents
involving American soldiers and
German civilians,” Hodes said.
"These incidents, with the at
tendant widespread publicity, are
a threat to the splendid relation
ship between the US. Army in
Europe and the people of the Fed
eral Republic of Germany.”
Hoover Will Speak at
National Convention
SAN FRANCISCO, Ex-Pres
ident Herbert Hoover, who will
be 82 Aug. 10, will address the
Republican National Convention
here Aug. 21 at Presidential Eis
enhower’s personal invitation,
party officials announced here.