m NUGGET
OLDEST^ NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS__
VOL. LXII No. 10 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 22 1960 _Per Copy 151
Dr. Spears’ Wife
Says He’s Innocent
In Airline Bombing
DALLAS, Tex., 141 — Dr. Rob
ert Spears’ young wife admitted
Thursday night she met the ex
convict and naturopath in Dallas
two weeks ago — and that it was
William Allen Taylor who died
in a November 16 airliner crash.
But she doesn’t believe Spears
placed a bomb aboard the plane
which carried 42 persons to their
deaths in the Gulf of Mexico, the
36-year-old woman said, in a dra
matiq radio-television interview.
The interview with KLRD news
director Eddie Barker came about
24 hours after the FBI fdund her
portly, 65-!year-old husband in
Phoenix, Ariz.
Here was her answer when she
was asked if she believed Spears
— a man with a 33-year criminal
record — bombed the airliner:
‘ ‘'Regardless of his past . . . re
gardless of what he has done or
said, or what has been said about
him, I know he is a very kind
person,to me, and to others. . . .
I do not believe he was capable
of putting a bomb on a plane.”
She said Spears gave his res
ervation on the flight to Taylor, a
60-year-old long-time friend from
Tampa, Fla. He told her that he
read the next day that the plane
had crashed, and seized the op
portunity to disappear.
Spears told her of the decep
tion during a secret visit to Dal
las two weeks ago, she related.
He hoped his young wife and two
infant children would benefit
from more than $100,000 in life
insurance he carried.
Her account was made public
here about the same time an Ari
zona friend of Spears, Dr. William
A. Turska, told in Phoenix of
finding a case of dynamite
cached near a desert cabin where
he hid Spears after the crash.
Rescuers Fight to Save
400 Trapped South
African Coal Miners
COALBROOK, South Africa, UP*
— Rescue teams worked against
dwindling hopes tonight to save
about 400 men trapped deep in a
coal mine.
The miners were trapped yes
terday by two rock slides at the
Clydesdale collier, 35 miles south
of Johannesfburg.
Loss of 400 men would make
this the second worst mining dis
aster in history. There was a loss
of -1,549 men at Henkeiko col
liery in Manchuria in 1942.
A report by a mine official
that rescuers had made contact
with some of the trapped men
stirred hope momentarily today,
but the contact was denied later
by the Department of Mines.
Canaries were carried into the
Clydensdale shafts by rescue
teams as a precaution. Canaries
are often used in mine disasters
to test the air, -because they are
more susceptible to gas than
are human beings.
Passenger Plane Lands
Safe With Faulty Gear
KANSAS CITY, UP* — A Trans
World Airlines Constellation with
20 passengers landed safely yes
terday after circling this area for
more than two hours because of
a malfunctioning nose gear.
The plane came down at the
Olathe Naval Air Station, south
west of Kansas City.
J
XJ. S. Envoy to Cuba
Called Home
WASHINGTON, UR — The
United States summoned Ambas
sador Philip Bonsai home from
Havana today, less than two
week's after he returned to his
post.
There were strong indications
of official exasperation at indig
nities authorities feel America
has suffered at the hands of Fidel
Castro.
The big question remained:
What can Washington try next
to change the course of the
bearded Cuban Premier without
hurting its relations with the other
psychologically sensitive Latin
American states?
Diplomatically, Uncle Sam was
in the unhappy shoes of the vis
itor being kicked in the shins by
a small boy of the (family while
not daring to lift his fist in re
prisal.
Secretary of State Christian
Herter said Thursday the career
diplomat was being returned for
“consultations.” He had returned
to Havana on January 10 after
a month of similar consultations.
The new move falls short of
a break in relations with the
Castro regime. But U. S. officials
made plain they are in no hurry
to send Bonsai back. The Havana
Embassy meanwhile will be
tended by the No. 2 man there,
Daniel Braddock.
The new low in U. S.-Cuban
relations was struck Thursday
after Castro went on a radio-TV
broadcast. The Spanish Ambas
sador became so outraged at Cas
tros’ allegations of criminal ties
by his embassy that he stomjed
the broadcasting studio, and
Castro kicked him out of Cuba.
Living Costs Decline
In December Survey.
WASHINGTON, UR — Living
costs as measured by the govern
ment declined one-tenth of one
per cent in December. It was the
first drop in four months.
Lower prices for food, clothing
and durable commodities were
largely responsible for the de
cline. Costs of services continued ■
to climb.
The Labor Department an
nounced today that its consumer
price index declined to 125.5 per
cent of the 1947-49 base period.
This is IVi per cent above the
level of December, 1958. The De
cember drop wiped out a slight
November increase and returned
the index to the October level.
Approximately 575,000 workers
will nevertheless get pay boosts of
1 or 2 cents an hour based on the
new index.
Bulldozers Barricade
Farmland In Path of Lava
From Island Eruption
HONOLULU, UR — Fifteen giant
bulldozers today were hastily
erecting a new dike in an attempt
to save another threatened area
from erupting Kilauea’s lava on
Hawaii Island.
The barricade was being put up
near Kumukahi Point as an ever
widening river of molten lava
continued to pour out of Kilauea’s
fiery fissure north of Kapoho Vil
lage. Kapoho’s 300 residents have
been evacuated.
The eruption, in its eighth day,
has spread tentacles of boiling
lava over fertile sugar cane) pa
paya groves and coffee planta
tions.
Local Junior Miss Will Be
Selected Next Friday At
NWA Chamber Banquet
The Annual Chamber of Com
merce Banquet to be held on Fri
day, January 29, will feature an
nouncement of new members to
the board of directors and the of
ficers for same. There will be a
special feature on the program, of
interest to High School co-eds.
At that time, the Chamber will
choose or announce the local can
didate for the Junior Miss Amer
ica Pageant, and possibly intro
duce a candidate from Fairbanks.
It will be remembered that
Diane Lee competed from here in
the all-States contest, and came
out in fourth place last year,
with many honors conferred upon
her. The possible candidates,
which are High School seniors,
from here, are to be interviewed
this week, stated chairman Don
Hoover. Contestants receive an
expense-paid trip, and winners’
awards include several scholar
ships. •
The Chamber dinner wilj be at
the Seaview Dining Room, and is
open to the public. Reservations
can be made at the North Star.
The Pageant has set its stan
dards high, with special empha
sis on character, good citizenship,
religious interests, and those qual
ities that will be of greatest value
to the young ladies not only at
the Pageant, but throughout their
lifetime.
House Education,
Labor Committee
May Be Split
WASHINGTON, W> — Rep.
Graham Barden (D-NC), chair
man of the House Labor and Edu
cation Committee, announced to
day he is retiring from Congress
this year after 26 years of
service.
The House seniority system
puts Rep. Ada^n Clayton Powell
(D-NY) in line to succeed him as
committee chairman.
Powell, a Negro and ardent
civil rights champion, is due to
go on trial in New York City
Match 7 on a three-count in
dictment charging income tax
evasion and aiding in prepara
tion of a fraudulent tax return.
Barden’s announcement, end
ing 13 terms in Congress, was
unexpected, and raised poten
tially critical questions over the
course of labor and education
legislation at an election-year
session of Congress.
It also revived the possibility,
long discussed behind the scenes,
of splitting Barden’s committee
— one new committee to govern
education and one with sole juris
diction over labor.
Barden, a hard-fisted southern
conservative, said he was quit
ting Congress because “I want to
go home.”
At 63, Barden said he wanted
time for his boats, fishing, his
grandchildren, his friends and
his wife.
FRENCH CANCEL BAN ON
FLIGHTS OVER SAHARA
PARIS, Ufi — The French gov
ernment* Thursday night canceled
a ban on air flights scheduled to
have gone into effect today over
a large section of the Sahara
where French atomic blasts are
planned. No reason was given, A
previous government announce
ment said there would be several
test alerts.
Coast Guard Aids In Transporting
Stranded Legislators to Capitol City
By WILLIAM J. *TOBIN
ANNETTE ISLAND, —Some
times travel in Alaska can be
like, well, crazy, man.
Like the State Legislature is
going to get going on schedule in
Juneau Monday, but1 it is only be
cause Uncle Sam and his Coast
Guard lent a hand.
There was a question as to
whether the Legislature was
going to open on time. Fog, thick,
swirling, impenetrable fog, wrap
ped itself around Juneau, Mon
day, then stubbornly refused to
steal away on little cats’ feet, as
the poem goes.
Travel in and out of Juneau,
except for a couple of wave
skipping seaplanes, has been
stopped cold.
There have been no large com
mercial airliner takeoffs or land
ings at Juneau since Monday.
There is no passenger boat ser
vice to Juneau. Juneau cannot be
reached by road without ferrying.
Democatic legislators who at
tended last weekend’s state party
convention in nearby Ketchikan
were caught particularly by the
quirk of nature- that has kept
Juneau socked in. Annetje Island
is Ketchikan’s airport.
5.000 Miles Since Monday
Some of the legislators have
flown as much as 5,000 miles
since Monday aboard planes
which have probed the Juneau
fog bank, trying unsuccessfully to
find a clear path of the capitol
city’s airfield.
They’ve been to Anchorage, to
Fairbanks, to Seattle and to
Whitehore, Y.T., and back—back
to Annette Island and the one
story, dormitory - like building
that has become a second home.
Twenty - eeven legislators have
been stuck here, along with 93
other airline passengers, includ
ing legislative employes. At first
they found the experience amus
ing. Their slightest whims were
quickly satisfied by Pacific North
thern Airlines and Pan Amer
can World Airways, which have
picked up the entire lodging and
board tab. -
Then, pinochle, jfoker, chess,
checkers, reading, story-spinning,
and snoozing began to wear thin.
The lawmakers appealed to
Governor Egan for help. Egan
looked at the forecast last night
... at least four more days of
fog for the capitol . . and asked
the Coast Guard for aid.
Most of the legislators left here
for Juneau last night aboard the
Coast Guard cutter Balsem. The
rest of the lawmakers will try to
get to Juneau via seaplane. The
others stranded here will just
have to wait out the fog.
The whole experience has been
deeply satisfying to State Rep.
Earl Hillstrand of Anchorage.
Accents Capitol Controversy
Hillstrand is chairman of the
Anchorage Capitol Site Steering
Committee, a group seeking to
move the capitol from Juneau to
the Anchorage area, with one of
the main arguments being that
Juneau is too inaccessible to most
of the state.
“I don’t think I have to em
phasize the issue,” Hillstrand
said. “Everyone appears to be
doing a good job of talking it up
right now.”
Rep. Warren Taylor of Fair
banks, Speaker of the House of
Representatives, quipped:
“There is a strong movement
afoot for a special session to move
the capitol to Annette Island,
which seems to be the most ac
cessible location in the state.”
And Sen. Lester Bronson of
Nome got in a plug for his area:
“This episode is plain evidence
the capitol should be at Nome.”
Latest Soviet Rocket
Was Biggest Launched
(By The Associated Press)
A reading Soviet scientist said
today the super rocket fired into
the Pacific Wednesday was the
biggest the Soviets have launched
and the forerunner of a heavy
space satellite with equipment
that can bring it back to earth.
Prof. V. Dobronravov said the
test rocket’s last two stages
reached a speed of more than
16,172 miles an hour.
The Soviet rocket that carried
the satellite which photographed
the moon last fall weighed about
3,323 pounds (without fuel) in the
last stage. The satellite itself
weighed only 614 pounds.
Sputnik III, launched on May
15, 1958, weighed 2,925 pounds.
The United States put a 1,700
pound satellite, Discoverer VIII,
into orbit in November. Its max
imum altitude is about 1,000 miles
from the earth.
Dobronravov wrote in Pravda
that this week’s test firing shows
“the final stage of the future lar
ger space rockets will toe able to
develop not only the first astro
nautical speed of about 7 miles
per second but even a greater
speed, sufficient for flights not
only to the moon but to the plan
ets of the sola* system, too.”
“The development of a heavy
earth satellite may toe useful for
solving basic problems of space
travel,” he wrote. *
Canadian Cold Spreads
South into Eastern U. S.
(By The Associated Press)
One of the winter season’s cold
est spells held an icy grip across
the eastern two-thirds of the
country today. A fresh surge of
Arctic air from central Canada
dispelled any hopes of immediate
general relief.
Most of the southland shivered
with other cold spots. The mer
cury dropped to below freezing
along the Gulf coast and into
northwest Florida.
Miami was chilled with one of
the coldest mornings of the sea
son with a reading of 40 above.
It was 27 at Tallahassee and 32
in Jacksonville. New Orleans and
Atlanta each reported a frosty 27
and it was 29 in Mobile, Ala.
The coldest weather was in
the northern • plains as the new
supply of cold Canadian . air
moved into the north central
region.
Below zero readings were re
ported in the Dakotas and Min
nesota.
Church Chief in Surgery
PORTLAND, UTi — The Metho
dist Church here announced Wed
nesday that Bishop A. Raymond
Grant of Portland will undergo
major surgery here today.
He is bishop for four states —
Alaska, Oregon, Washington and
Idaho.
He will undergo abdominal
surgery.
jat-rrtm.