™E NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 139 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 19a4 Per Copy—15^
Intelligence Officer
Says Ft. Monmouth
Reports Destroyed
NEW YORK, un — The New
York Daily News quotes a for
mer counter intelligence agent at
the Ft. Monmouth electronic cen
ter as saying that 10 wastbaskets
full of secret files were burned
just before the Army - McCarthy
hearings.
In a series copyrighted by the
News Syndicate Co., Inc., the
newspaper interviewed Capt. Ben
ajmin H. Sheehan, former coun
ter intelligence corps agent as
signed in 1952 to investigate es
pionage and security at the na
tion’s top secret laboratories.
Sheehan, 40, World War II vet
eran, was honorably discharged
from the service last September.
He submitted his resignation after
17 years in the service.
Sheehan, charging that “repeat
ed efforts” to launch a fullscale
probe was blocked, was quoted as
saying:
“On April 2, 1952, I had orders
to report to the west coast for
shipment to the Far East. I was
given the day off.
“A CIC major in our section
suddenly decided to consolidate
the files on our espionage-secur
ity investigation at Ft. Monmouth,
which ran back more than two
years.
“He consolidate them all right.
I am reliable informed that he
pulled out and burned at least
10—that’s right, 10—wastebaskets
full of secret reports and corres
pondence.”
The alleged burning of the sec
ret files preceded by several
weeks the opening of the Mc
Carthy - Army hearings, during
which Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy
produced a 2V4 page document.
McCarthy said the document
contained a summary of a classi
fied FBI memo which dealt with
the possibility of espionage at Ft.
Monmouth.
Says Sheehan:
“The Army never formally ac
cused me of giving that 2Vfc-page
FBI letter to Sen. McCarthy, but
I was a prime suspect.
“The harassment and treatment
my family and I received as a
result is a far cry from what
should be expected by an officer
with an unblemished record of 17
years service.”
In the interview Sheehan denied
giving the letter to McCarthy “or
anyone else.”
Vishinski’s Ashes Buried
In Elaborate State Funeral
MOSCOW, (jD—Premier Georgi
Malenkov and other top Soviet
leaders placed an urn containing
the ashes of deputy foreign min
ister Andrei Y. Vishinky in a
niche in the Kremlin wall today.
The procession as they carried
the urn from in front of the
Lenin-Stalin tomb in Red Square,
was the final ritual in an elabor
ate state funeral for the fiery
orator and chief delegate of the
U.S.S.R. in the United Nations.
He died Monday in New York at
the age of 70.
Truth Serum Test Is "
Admitted As Evidence
In Trial For First Time
KETCHIKAN, UFi—A tape re
corded truth serum test was ad
mitted in evidence in federal
court in Ketchikan for the first
time Wednesday in the trial of
Rollie Lindsay, charged on seven
counts of rape, sodomy and at
tempting to influence a witness.
The test was given to Lind
say’s 15-year-old girl accuser by
an Alaska mental health officer
in an attempt to corroborate her
testimony, the prosecuting attor
ney said.
Federal Judge George W. Folta
admitting the evidence over de
fense counsel objections, said:
“There may not be any author
ity, and there never will be if
the court don’t keep up with the
developments of medical science.”
The prosecutor said the tests
supported the girl's testimony
given when she was on the wit
ness stand three hours Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Gaffney
Celebrate Their 53rd
Wedding Anniversary
SEATTLE, Wl—James C. Gaff
ney and his wife, perhaps the old
est living couple married in gold
rush days at Nome, will observe
their 53rd wedding anniversary
today.
They will celebrate it here at
the home of C. F. Schlosstein,
Seattle attorney and his wife, who
was Constance Orton, daughter of
the late Mr. and Mrs. Ira D.
Orton of Nome. The Ortons were
married in the Gaffneys’ home in
Nome in 1902, just a year after
the Gaffneys themselves were
married.
Gaffney will be 80 in January;
his wife, Margaret, 76.
Mrs. Gaffney’s father, George
H. McPherren, mushed over Chil
koot Pass in 1898 and opened a
general store in Dawson. In 1900
he opened a clothing store in
Nome and Gaffney became its
manager. The following year Miss
McPherson joined them, and she
and Gaffney were married in the
snow - bound settlement teeming
with gold-seekers.
Violence Flares In
Steel Workers Unions
Jurisdictional Dispute
DETROIT, Wl—Two AFL lo
cals reached a truce last night
after a smoldering jurisdictional
dispute flared into a bloody
Thanksgiving Day brawl at the
McLouth Steel Corp. plant in the
industrial suburb of Trenton.
Fifty construction workers
slugged each other with heavy
wrenches and pipes in the melee.
Six of the men required hospital
attention after police broke up
the tumult by firing four warning
shots into the air.
The fight was between Riggers
local 575* and Millwrights local
1102. The men are all employed
by the Eichleay Corp. of Pitts
burgh which has a contract to
replace an old rolling mill at the
McLouth plant.
A spokesman for Eichleay said
the job in dispute involved bolt
ing .down machinery.
Worst Fog In Years
Paralyzes Southern
California
LOS ANGELES, Wl—1The worst
fog in years continued over the
greater portion of Southern Cali
fornia today, paralyzing trans
portation on land, at sea and in
the air.
The Coast Guard made a dra
matic rescue of a converted Navy
crash boat, Harmony, that was
groping in the murk and unable
to radio its position. Using, radar
and radio bearings, a Coast Guard
boat located the craft in the thick
mist eight miles north of Isthmus
Cove of Catalina Island and took
it in tow.
Most airports were closed, in
cluding the big Los Angeles In
ternational, one of the nation’s
busiest. Scores of traffic crashes
were reported in the Los Angeles
metropolitan area, but only one
death was directly attributed to
the smashups, probably because
fog prevented speed.
Three babies, each 3 months
old, died yesterday of respiratory
ailments and the coroner ordered
autopsies. Smog was suspected of
being a contributory influence,
but two of the infants were being
given medical care. For the last
48 hours eye-smarting smog has
drenched the downtown Los An
geles area.
Fog blanketed the Pacific coast
from San Luis Obispo to the Mex
ican border and pushed from
eight to 20 miles inland. Driving
on coast highways was dangerous
and in cities it was restricted, vol
untarily, to essential trips.
Peiping Radio Claims
13 Amerian “Confessed”
To Espionage Activities
LONDON, (ifl — Peiping radio
said today the 13 Americans sen
tenced to prison terms as spies
were given a public trial “at
which they admitted having re
ceived specialist training in es
pionage and guerilla warfare.”
The Red Chinese radio was
keeping up its drumfire of pro
paganda in the case of the 11
airmen and two civilians whose
sentences by a military court to
terms ranging from four years to
life was disclosed by the Peiping
regime on Tuesday.
All were captured during the
Korean war. Both the American
and British government have de
nounced the charges as false and
a violation of the Geneva conven
tion on prisoners of war. The
United States is trying to arrange
a face-to-face meeting at Geneva
with Chinese representatives to
take up the case.
The Peiping radio said Col.
John Knox Arnold Jr., of Silver
Spring, ,Md., commander of a B-29
shot down Jan. 12, 1953, over
North Korea, confessed in court
he was engaged in intelligence
work. He was sentenced to 10
years.
The broadcast gave no explan
ation of the long delay between
the capture of the men and their
trial. The trial date was not speci
fied but apparently it was only
recently held.
Prison Inmate Intending
To Ransack Remington’s
Room, Admits Murder
LEWISBURG, Pa., Iff)—‘The FBI
today charged a third inmate at
Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary
today with the murder of William
W. Remington, former govern
ment economist convicted of per
jury, and in so doing provided
the first clue to the motive for
the slaying.
Norman H. McCabe, special
agent in charge of the Philadel
phia FBI office, announced that
Lewis Cagle Jr., 17, of Chatta
nooga, Tenn., has been charged
with the murder of Remington on
Monday.
McCabe said Cagle admitted in
a statement “that he, along with
McCoy and Parker, planned to
ransack Remington’s room on
Nov. 22 and the assault took place
while they were in his (Reming
ton’s) room.”
The other two prisoners refer
red to were George McCoy, 34,
of Grundy, Va., and Robert Carl
Parker, 21, of Washington, D.C.,
who were charged with participa
tion in the beating administered
to Remington with a part of a
brick in a stocking.
The clue as to the motive for
the slaying ended speculation that
the slaying might have been an
act reflecting anti - Communist
feeling in the prison.
Accounts of Assault On
Nationalist Island Vary
By Spencer Moosa
TAIPEH, Formosa, (JV—Chinese
Reds reportedly sent an assault
force against a tiny Nationalist
outpost in the Formosa Strait to
day, but there were conflicting re
ports on whether they actually
attempted a landing.
The Nationalist defense minis
try at first announced the Reds
landed at Wuchau Island and
were driven off after many Com
munist soldiers were captured.
Later the ministry issued a
communique saying the Reds ap
proached the island from three
directions and were “repulsed”
by Nationalist defenders and war
planes. The communique made no
reference to a landing or to the
prisoners taken.
It was not clear whether the
attack on Wuchiu Island was in
tended as an invasion, a hit-and
run raid, or an effort to see what
the U.S. 7th Fleet might do.
Press reports said the Reds
stormed ashore from motorized
junks under cover of shellfire
from 10 gunboats. Nationalist
warplanes raced to the island and
helped drive the invaders back
into the sea.
BACK TO JAIL
DETROIT, UPI — Two friends
bailed L.G. Johns, 29, of Detroit
out of jail yesterday so he’d have
something to be thankful for.
But as the three left, Johns
picked up a jacket hanging in the
police station hallway.
They met Patrolman Claude
Robertson as they were heading
out the door. It was his jacket.
All three were jailed for lar
ceny from a building.
McCarthy Gets
Out Of Hospital
For Thanksgiving
WASHINGTON, UP) —Sen. Mc
Carthy was out of the hospital for
a while Thanksgiving Day.
That disclosure from Bethesda
Naval Medical Center today sug
gested that McCarthy’s ailing el
bow may have improved enough
to let the Wisconsin Republican
be on hand Monday when the
Senate is scheduled to resume de
bate on censure charges against
him. But the hospital wouldn’t
say so.
McCarthy went to the hospital
last week for treatment of an ail
ment reported to the senators as
“traumatic bursitis.” McCarthy’s
office said it was the result of a
bruise caused when a well wish
er greeting him at a Milwaukee
gathering jammed the elbow into
a table.
The Senate, in special session
to consider the censure charges
approved by a special committee,
took a 10-day recess rather than
carry on the debate in his ab
sence.
Army Gives 11 Awards
For Heroism In Rescue
Of Mountain Climber
ANCHORAGE, UPI — Eleven
awards to soldiers and civilians
for heroism in the rescue of Cpl.
George Argus from Mt. McKinley
last May were announced today
by Army officials. The recipients
include the late Dr. John McCall,
University of Alaska glacierolo
gist who died recently of polio.
Five Soldier’s Medals, highest
award given to members of the
Army for non-combat heroism,
were included in the honors.
Dr. McCall’s posthumous award
an Army appreciation certificate,
was presented to his widow at
her home near Fairbanks by
Brig. Gen. Marshall S. Carter,
deputy commanding general, U.S.
Army, Alaska.
Others honored were: M/Sgt.
Donald L. Nightingale, Sgt. 1st Cl.
George Wolcott Sgt. Charles D.
Inskeep, Lt. Col. Edmund Muel
ler, and Capt. Ray Zoberski, all
receiving Soldier’s Medals.
Capt. Flavius K. Simmons,
Commendation Ribbon with
Mfedal Pendant; Lt. Herman A.
Henry, and Lt. Fred T. Yama
gata, Alaska Certificates of
Achievement.
Fred Milan, Aeromedical Lab
oratory, Department of the Army
Appreciation Certificate; Peter
Gabriel, civilian instructor at the
Army Arctic Center, Dept, of the
Army decoration for exceptional
civilian service.
WHISKEY BOTTLE COST $266
whiskey bottle is displayed in the
FRUITA, Colo., Ub—An empty
whisky bottle is displayed in the
window of the office of L.I. Har
ris, justice of the peace.
On the bottle is a penciled note:
“This cost the woman who
drank it $266.”
Harris said the fines were
levied against a motorist accused
of drunken driving and speeding.