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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No. 141 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1953 _ Per Copy—15^
Russia Reverses
And Offers to Meet
With Big Three
WASHINGTON, UPV—Russia has
offered to meet with the Western
Big Three to discuss critical Eu
ropean problems, abandoning its
earlier insistence that Red China
first be accepted by the West in
the councils of great powers.
A digest of the note Russia
sent Thursday to the Western
powers indicated that if a Big
Four meeting, of foreign minis
ters, where held the Soviets would
immediately press for a broader,
follow-up, meeting including
Communist China.
Informed observers here said
the result might be that instead
of further potponing a four
power meeting by dispatching re
peated vetoes on the Chinese
question, the Russians conceive
ably might allow the meeting to
assemble, and then stall discus
sion of European problems while
the Chinese issue was worked over
again.
In any case, the Russian note
was under intensive study by Sec
retary of State Dulles and his
principal policy advisers to deter
mine whether it is a serious step
toward easing world tensions or a
clever stab at the unity of the
west.
There was immediate specula
tion that the Russians might be
really trying to maneuver the
downfall of French Premier Lan
iers government and cripple the
Western Big Three conference
opening in Bermuda in a week.
The timing of the Russian an
nouncement, and the things it
didn’t say, fed this speculation.
Laniers Government
Gets Vote of Confidence
In French Nat. Assembly*
PARIS, UP) — Unofficial tallies
indicated today that Premier Jo
seph Laniel had received a vote
of confidence in the National As
sembly. The unofficial figures
gave Laniel a majority of about 17
yptes.
The vote came at the end of a
tension charged day in the Nation
al Assembly debate on French for
eign policy. The vote reflected re
luctance to throw Laniel out of
office on the eve of the Bermuda
conference of the Big Three to
discuss world 'tensions.
Early in the day it seemed that
Laniel would have difficulty in
getting approval from the depu
ties of his policy on European
unity.
TOYLAND OPENS MONDAY BIGGER AND
NOME HARDWARE STORE ^
U.S. Army Sergeant
Confesses Slaying Of The
Rothschild Girl In Japan
TOKYO, UP) — The Army said
Saturday a U.S. sergeant had con
fessed to the strangulation slay
ing of 9-year-old Susan Roths
child a week ago.
The announcement identified
him as Sgt. Maurice L. Schick,
29, chief ward master of the U.S.
Army hospital at Camp Zama.
The hospital is near the Saga
mihara housing area where
Susan’s body, a gag stuffed in
her mouth, was found in a drain
age ditch by her Army colonel
father.
Army authorities said Schick
told them he had no intention of
raping the girl and did not plan
the murder before meeting her in
a lightly populated area only two
blocks from the home of her par
ents, Col. and Mrs. Jacquard
Rothschild.
The brief Army announcement
said Schick confessed late Friday
night.
The Army said Schick lived
with his wife and two adopted
Japanese daughters in the same
sprawling U.S. Army housing area
as his victim.
Public Hearing on Alaska
Housing Conditions To Be
Held In The Near Future
ANCHORAGE, UP) — Herald
Stringer, chairman of a legislative
examining and investigating com
mittee said Wednesday that a
public hearing concerning the
housing situation in Alaska will
be held here in the near future.
Stringer announced the plan at
the conclusion of a series of exec
utive sessions held by the com
mitee. Four officials of the Alaska
Housing Authority appeared be
fore, the committee during the
sessions.
The Anchorage Times, mean
while, reported that two mem
bers of the staff of the U.S. Sen
ate Committee on government op
erations are in Juneau checking
“housing and other matters.”
England To Use 1,500 MPH
Piloted Rockets For Defense
LONDON, UP) — A semi-official
Royal Air Force magazine said
Friday piloted rocket ships
launched straight up from the
ground will form a part of Brit
ain’s future defenses against
atomic bombing.
The magazine, Flying Review,
said the stubby - winged rockets
will hit 1,500 miles an hour and
will be able to reach a bomber
flying at 50,00(T feet in less than
a minute.
Foolproof Defense
Of North America
Is Impractical
OTTAWA, Of) — Canadian de
fense minister Brooke Claxton
says Canada and the United
States can’t afford a foolproof air
defense system, even if one could
be worked out.
He told the House of Com
mons Thursday in a general re
view of Canada’s defense mea
sures that Russia some day may
be in a position to deliver “so
devastating” an attack that North
American military strength,
actual and potential, would be ser
iously crippled.
Claxton’s speech recalled Presi
dent Eisenhower’s declaration to
parliament Nov. 14 that Canada
and the United States “can and
will” devise ways to protect the
continent against surprise air at
tack.
Claxton told Commons no
means had yet been found to
guarantee that every attacking
aircraft would be downed short
of its target. And even if such
could be found, he added, the
combined resources of Canada
and the southern neighbor would
n’t be able to pay for it.
Claxton said Canada and the
U.S. are in “general agreement”
about what should be done to
protect the continent and are
working together. Their efforts
are spurred by the knowledge that
Russia posseses nuclear weapons,
he continued.
Diane Wells’ Motion For
Dismissal Murder Charge
Denied By Judge Pratt ,
FAIRBANKS, iff) — Motions for
dismissal of a first degree murder
charge against Diane Wells and
severance of her case from that
of Negro jazz drummer Johnny
Warren, also charged with her
husband’s slaying, were denied
Wednesday.
Another motion in Federal Dis
trict Judge Harry Pratt’s court—
to transfer the trial to a court in
another district — was put over
until Friday for further argument.
No trial date has been set.
Officials have said they are look
ing for a third person in the case.
Both Mrs. Wells1 and Warren
have maintained they are inno
cent of the killing. Warren has
said, however, that he had a very
close acquaintance with Mrs.
Wells prior to the shooting in the
Wells apartment. She said later
that the nature of the association
did not warrant any “implica
tions.”
Fairbanks Hoopsters
Arrive For Two-Game
Series With Nanooks
The Fairbanks High School
basketball team arrived this
morning with Wien Airlines for
games with the Nome team to be
played this evening and Saturday
at 8:15 p.m.
Last year Nome welcomed Pal
mer’s High School team and this
year the basketball fans are look
ing forward to two exciting games
with the team from our nearest
high school.
In the party are: Ted Butcher,
Bob Seaborn, Ray Katuri, Bruce
Barber, Bob Boswell, Danny
Krize, John Neilson, Noel
Smith, Virgil Walheter, Howard
Seaborn, J. E. McCarthy, Helen
Grafe, Martha Clifton, Virginia
Rowe, Shirley Kalenen, Esther
Burns/ Lois Meir, Jack Cratty,
Decta McCarthy, Doris Southhall,
Ann Walsh, Mary Rogge, Shirley
Cries, and Kenny Wein.
Big Pusan Fire
Makes 300,000
Persons Homeless
PUSAN, Korea, UFi — A great
fire burrfed through the heart of
teeming Pusan Saturday, driving
possibly 300,000 persons from
their homes, and destroying the
headquarters of the U. S. Army
Command which operates this
vital port.
Hours after the fire broke out
in a squatter section of this city
jammed with war refugees, thou
sans of U.S. and South Korean
soldiers still had not brought the
raging flames under control. The
flames had swept more than a
mile through the business section.
The flames ate swiftly through
the tinder-like shacks and hovels,
gulping whole blocks at a time.
Then the fire spread to the busi
ness section.
Thousands of Koreans with
their pitifully meager possessions
streamed across bridges to Yong
do island, near by. A U.S. Army
officer said that from 2,000 to
3,000 buildings — shacks, houses,
shops, stores, small offices and
some larger buildings—had gone
up in flames.
By 3 a.m. the fire was consum
ing the three-story building hous
ing the headquarters for the U.S.
Army’s Korean base section.
There were no immediate re
ports of deaths although it was
almost certain some residents
must have died in the flames that
shot red into the dark sky.
The fire burst out 8 o’clock Fri
day night in a shantytown area
called “The Hilltop.”
Statehood Comm.
Approves Pending
Statehood Bill
ANCHORAGE, UB—1The Alaska
Statehood Committee expressed
general satisfaction Wednesday
with statehood legislation now
pending before both houses of
Congress but suggested certain
liberalizing provisions.
The recommendations are being
forwarded to the Senate Interior
and Insular Affairs Committee for
its guidance.
The committee said it believes
that the one hundred million acres
land grant provided in the bills
is ample.
“The new state of Alaska has
no inherent right to any more land
than has been given other states
as they were admitted to the
Union,” the committee said. “The
Saylor bill is generous in that it
will give the state some IVi times
the acreage that would accrue to
the state under the traditional
formula.”
However, the group urged an
amendment giving the state prior
ity to take title to public lands
that may be released from exist
ing reservations.
Other recommendations:
1. That the federal government
retain permanent responsibility
for mental patients institutional
ized before Alaska becomes a
state. The present bill proposes a
five-year limit for federal care.
2. That cash payments for con
struction and maintenance of
roads be provided or that proce
dure be established for designat
ing certain roads as military high
ways to be built and maintained
by the federal government.
The committee also said “Alas
kans are in agreement that the
new state should be able finan
cially to handle its state road re
quirements.” 'However, it added,
“the suggestion has been made by
federal authorities that national
defense requirements call for a
high mileage of paved roads and
that if the new state carries the
responsibility it will be burdened
with a greater share of this na
tional requirement than most
other states.”
KANSAS CITY, UP) — Fourteen
guests sat around the Harry
Christopher apartment hungrily
awaiting Thanksgiving dinner.
But the dinner never reached
the table. It hit the ceiling.
A cooker being used by Mrs.
Christopher exploded hurling a
beef roast and potatoes against
the ceiling.
Said Mrs. Christopher:
“It was the quickest job of
mashing potatoes I’ve even seen.”