m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 23 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1957 ~Per Cop^—L5^
Alaska Democrats’ ‘Vindictive Politics’
Endangers Support for Statehood,
Implies Utah GO? Representative
WASHINGTON, (41—Rep. Daw
son (R-Utahl has accused Demo
cratic members of the Alaska
Legislature of playing “politics”
with the appointments of Acting
Gov. Waino Hendrickson.
He warned indirectly that the
Legislature’s actions might hinder
realization of Alaska’s statehood
aims.
In a House speech yesterday,
Dawson — a strong Statehood
supporter — took note of recent
stories in an Alaskan newspaper
(Anchorage Times).
One reported the Democratic
controlled Legislature’s rejection
of 36 nominations submitted by
Hendrickson. The other reported
a proposal by Wendell Kay of
Anchorage, former Alaska House
speaker, to strip patronage pow
ers of the Alaska Governor “to
_____ - '
Low Bids Announced for |
Building of Two DEW
Line Installations in Terr.
SEATTLE, UR — A Seattle
firm’s bids for building two DEW I
line stations in southwest Alaska
are $1,461,029 under the total of
the government estimates and
$3,245,374 under the highest pair1
of bids.
The bids were opened by the
Alaska District Oifice of the j
Corps of Engineers here yester-1
day. Nine bids were submitted.;
The low bidder was Manson
Osberg Co. Its bid for the instal
lation at Cold Bay, near the tip
of the Alaska Peninsula, was
$3,628,890. Its bid for a similar
job at Cape Sarichef, about 100
miles to the west on Unimak
Island, was $3,717,834.
The firm also said it would
knock off $100,000 if it receives
both bids.
The projects are the first two
of six planned in an extension
of the defense warning system to
■the Aleutians.
Air Force Loses Matador
Rocket Over Desert
ALAMOGORDO, N. M., UR —
The location of the remnants of
an errant military rocket appar
ently may remain locked un
known in the high Rockies of
Colorado or the Colored Desert I
reaches of Utah.
Yesterday the 39Vi-feet-long
Matador escaped remote controls
operated from Holloman Air De
velopment Center. Officials said
it had about an hour’s fuel left.
They said they believed it
soared northwestward over five
sixths of New Mexico and prob
ably landed in southwest Colo
rado or southeast Utah. The re
gion is sparsely populated, a land
where industry is based on ranch
ing, mining, logging, natural gas
and oil.
The Air Force planned to give
up its search this morning for the
big missile, which has a wing
span of 27.9 feet, a ceiling of
more than 35,000 ffeet and a speed
in excess of 650 miles an hour.
Spokesmen for the Air Force
said the search would be aban
doned because continuation
“would cost more than the mis
sile is worth.” They said it did
not carry an explosive warhead
and was equipped only with in
struments.
frustrate the aims of Republican
leaders in Washington.”
Dawson said Kay’s statement
and the Legislative action “are
clearly political in intention aind
scope.” He said the action “is
nothing but politics and politics
at its vindictive worst.”
Warning that he intends to keep
“close watch” on Legislative de
velopments, Dawson added:
“As a Republican, I deeply re
sent political reprisals against
duly constituted authority in the
Territory of Alaska, solely -be
cause the authority happens to be
a Republican also.
“Let the Democrat members of
the Alaska Legislature weigh this
observation while they are pass
ing resolutions urging me and
other Republican members of
Congress to vote them Statehood.”
Alaska to Assume
Responsibility for
Mental Health
WASHINGTON, m — The In
terior Department announced yes
terday that on Feb. 25 Alaska will
take over responsibility for the
care of those in Alaska who are
legally adjudged insane.
Transfer of the responsibility
from the Department to the Ter
ritory is being made under a 1956
law. The law includes provisions
for federal grants totaling 12Vi
million dollars over a ten-year
period to aid Alaska in establish
ing and operating a modern men
tal health program.
The Interior Department has
been responsible since 1905 for
contracting for the care and
treatment of Alaska’s mentally
ill. Since 1910 this responsibility
has been carried out through a
contract with the Sanitarium
Co., operator of the Morningside
Hospital in Portland, Ore.
The Department said this con
tract is being assigned to the
Territory, effective Feb. 25.
U. S. Will Not Ask for More Delays
In United Nations Action on Israel
By the Associated Press
The Arab bloc in the United
Nations pushed ahead with plans
to ask for sanctions against Is
rael today as a result of Premier
David Ben Gurion’s refusal to
withdraw Israeli troops from the
Gaza and Gulf of Aqaba coast
al strips without guarantees.
United States officials said they
would agree to Ben Gurion’s re
quest for further talks, but
would not urge any more delays
in the U. N. Assembly. The As
sembly was scheduled to take up
the sanctions question this after
noon.
In a speech to the Israeli Knes
set (Parliament) last night, Ben
Gurion said Israel would call
home her last troops from the in
vasion of Egypt if U. N. troops
are stationed at Sharm El Sheikh
to keep the Gulf of Aqaba open
to Israel, and if it is certain
Egypt will not return to com
mando raiding bases in the Gaza
Strip of Palestine.
He said Israel had decided to
Queen Officially
Titles Husband as
Prince Philip
LONDON, UPi — Queen Eliza
beth II tonight officially created
her husband, the Duke of Edin
burgh. a British prince.
A brief announcement in the
London Gazette, the court jour
nal, said:
“The Queen has been pleased
to declare her will and pleasure
that His Royal Highness the Duke
of Edinburgh stall henceforth be
known as His Royal Highness
Prince Philip, Duke of Edin
burgh.”
The Duke has been popularly
known as Prince Philip but up
until now this has not been an
official title. Philip was horn a
Greek prince but before his mar
riage to Princess Elizabeth he re
nounced the title.
Up until now Edinburgh has j
been No. 30 on the roll of nobility. |
His own son, 8-year-old Prince
Charles, is listed first after the
Queen and then come the royal
dukes — Gloucester, Windsor and
Kent.
The new move tended to dra
matize denials of rumors of a
rift between the Queen and Duke.
The action was taken by many
as the Queen’s first step toward
emulating her great, great grand
mother, Queen Victoria, in even
tually proclaiming Edinburgh her j
official “Prince Consort.”
Edinburgh returned to England
yesterday from a 35,000-mile glo
bal tour that wound up with his
wife joining him in Portugal for
an official state visit.
Chemical Tank Explodes
At Texas Paper Company
HOUSTON, Tex., UP) — The ex
plosion of a tank containing 125,
000 gallons of caustic soda rocked
the Champion Paper and Fibre
Co. plant at nearby Pasadena,
Tex., today, injuring at least five
persons.
The tank was located outside
the causticizing unit at the plant,
on the Houston Ship Canal.
Cause of the explosion was not
imediately determined.
Pasadena is an industrial com
munity about 8 or 10 miles di
rectly east from downtown Hous
ton.
-i
‘make a further effort to reach
an understanding with the United
States.”
As to the sanctions threat, he
declared, “any attempt to compel
us to accept a miscarriage of jus
tice and system of discrimination
will meet with the unflinching
oposition of the people of Israel.”
Abba Eban, Israeli Ambassa
dor to the United States, left for
Washington with new instructions
from his government. He re
turned to Israel yesterday to re
port on his previous: talks with
U. S. Secretary of State Dulles.
Dulles had offered to support
the principle of freedom of ship
ping in the Gulf and the station
ing of U. N. forsfes in the Gaza
Strip, but Israel rejected the offer
as inadequate.
In a speech Wednesday night
President Eisenhower called upon
Israel to withdraw her troops un
conditionally, and said the United I
Nations had no (choice but to put
pressure on Israel in the event i
of refusal:*
Mrs. Ford Dies of Malnutrition In
Fairbanks at 83, After Varied Life,
Leading from Dance Halls to Seclusion
FAIRBANKS, iff) — Death has
ended the stranger-than-fiction
career of a wealthy Fairbanks
recluse who prowled trash piles
while carrying titles to half a mil
lion dollars worth of property in
her shopping bag.
Tiny, ragged Mrs. Hulda Ford
died in a hospital here yesterday
of an ailment which doctors at
tributed mainly to malnutrition.
She was 83.
A dance hall girl in the gold
rush days, Mrs. Ford was one of
the few to parlay her earnings
into a fortune. The Daily News
Miner described her as one of
Alaska’s richest women — if not
the richest.
But in her declining years “her
mind seemed to slip,” as the old
timers put it. The old sourdoughs
described her as having been vi
vacious and beautiful as a young
woman of the gold camp era.
Her death may lift the shadow
of mystery from her fortune. For
years she has been coileating
rents from stores and disposing
of expensive properties. Specu
lation has been that her income
would have exceeded $100,000 in
some years. Where it went has
been a topic of intense local in
terest for many years.
Mrs. Ford was born in Minnea
polis in 1873. She was a dance
hall girl in Montana before an
Dispute Over Pay of
Alaska Delegation Given
To Legis. Committee
l
JUNEAU, Iff! — The task of set- |
tling the dispute over pay of
Alaska’s unofficial Congressional
delegation has been given a con
ference committee.
The action was taken yesterday
after the Territorial House re
fused to go along with Senate
amendments restricting the sal
aries and expenses of the provi
sional Senators and Representa
tive.
House Speaker Richard Greuel
named three Democrats to the
committee — two who disagreed
with the Senate, and one favored
the Senate amendments. Named
were Representative Seaborn J.
Buckalew of Anchorage and John
von der Heydt of Nome, who op
posed the Senate version, and
Ken Johnson of Anchorage, who
faored its adoption.
The Senate named two Demo
crats and a Republican to the
committee — Republican Edith
Bullock of Nome and Kotzebue,
who voted against the bill as a
whole, and Democrats Robert
Ellis of Ketchikan and Frank
Peratrovich of Klawock.
Top-Drawer Gourmet at 1
PHOENIX, Ariz., (ff> — Spinach
should be no trouble now for
12-month-old Noi Hollingsworth.
This is what they pumped out of
the tot’s stomach at the County
Hospital:
Roach poison, cigaret butts,
washing powder and bathing oil.
His parents, not waiting for
their gourmet son’s verdict, took
him to the hospital yesterday
after finding him playing “in a
mess of stuff’’ in a top drawer.
Doctors said he will be all right.
swering the alluring call of the
north. She went to Nome with
the stampeders of 1900. She was a '
dance hall girl there and pur
chased a hotel. She named it the
Sheldon, presumably after Shel
don Ford, whom she had married
at Spokane, Wash., at the turn
of the century. They later were
divorced in Nome.
With a poke full of gold, she
came to Fairbanks in 1906 after
the Nome rush petered out. She
went into business in this new
born settlement with an early day i
general store, then bought prop
erty and buildings in the grow
ing town through the years. They
skyrocketed in value during the
boom that started here with
World War II.
A banker here estimated her
property at close to the half mil
lion mark. She always kept with
her the shopping bag in which
she carried the titles — and in
which she also carried such scav
enger items as old string and
bottles.
A sister and a niece in Seattle
are believed to be her only heirs.
In the past decade, Mrs. Ford
has refused to pay income taxes.
Internal revenue agents grew
weary of arguing with her and
simply bided their time. They
are expected to file liens against
her holdings.
Legends of an ill-fated love af
fair long have circulated among
Alaskans, but old-timers insist
she never was interested in any
man after divorcing her husband.
She was wary and suspicious
of all men in her later years but
she was known to have given as
much as $25,000 worth of prop
erty to persons that won her trust.
Mrs. Ford had suffered from
a stomach abcess in recent days.
Friends had tried to make her go
to the hospital. She refused stub
bornly.
Tuesday she was found lying
helpless in a room in an old hotel
building. She was rushed to a
hospital but her condition was
beyond hope. Physicians asked
her if she didn’t want to make out
a will. She shook her head feebly
and replied “no.”
That was Hulda Ford’s last
word.
Nautilus Traveled
‘20,000 Leagues’
Without Refueling
GROTON, Conn., UP> — The nu
clear submarine Nautilus trav
eled 60,000 miles on a lump of
uranium “smaller than a light
bulb,” her builders said today.
The submarine, the nation’s
first atomic-powered vessel, soon
will be refueled for the first time
since she started out on her first
tour Jan. 17, 1955.
The Electric Boat Division of
the General Dynamics Corp., in
a statement commemorated today
the mark made by the Nautilus
on Feb. 4 off Atlantic City, N. J.
—20,000 leagues or 60,000 miles
without refueling.
The 20,000 leagues is a refer- „
ence to Jules Verne’s fantasy
written in 1869 about an under
sea craft. The book — “20,000
Leagues Under the Sea” — has
been made into a movie.