NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVIII No. 123 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1956 _Per Copy—154
PAA Stratocruiser Ditches in Pacific;
All 31 Persons Aboard Rescued
SAN FRANCISCO, IM—A big
Pan American plane was forced
down on the Pacific Ocean yester
day and broke in half, but the
Coast Guard rescued the 31 per
sons aboard within minutes.
The Stratocruiser, enroute from
Honolulu to San Francisco, was
forced to ditch about 1,000 miles
southwest of San Francisco be
cause of trouble in two of its four
engines.
There were 24 passengers and
7 crewmen aboard the plane.
The plane was ditched by pilot
Richard Ogg at 8:16 a.m. PST, and
sank in 21 minutes, the Coast
Guard reported.
(In Seattle, Pan American said
Ogg was a pilot on its Alaska
routes for many years. >
“All survivors rescued," said
a reassuring message from the
weather ship Pontchartrain. No
body was seriously injured, but
five persons suffered minor in
juries, a message said.
The Pan American crew, trained
for such emergencies, apparently
got the passengers into liferafts.
“Four rafts in water,” the Pont
chartrain messaged soon after the
plane went down.
The Pontchartrain then launched
its lifeboats and took everyone
aboard.
Pilot Ogg had circled for five
hours over the weather ship wait
ing for daylight to put his plane
down.
The ditching operation took
place on a carpet of fire extin
guisher foam laid down by the
cutteV. The foam helped smooth
the sea, gave the pilot a better
sight of the strip on which to land
and reduced fire hazard.
As an additional precaution,
Flight Engineer Frank Garcia
flooded the two inboard wing
compartments, housing the en
gines still operating with extin
guisher foam just at the moment
of landing.
The plane’s two outboard en
gines had failed just after the
Stratocruiser passed over the
Pontchartrain, on duty at “Sta
tion November” as a weather ob
servation ship, and just past the
“point of no return” on the 2,400
mile flight from Honolulu to San
Francisco.
“We had mechanical difficul
ties,” Ogg explained, and lost alti
tude down to where we had low
air speed and high fuel consump
tion. There were no alternatives.
We had to ditch.”
PUP PRODUCTION
FITS THE DATE
WEST POINT, Miss., WV-Kate, a
three-year-old hound, astonished
her owner, J. A. Phelps, by pro
ducing a litter of 17 pups last
Nov. 17.
Kate astonished Phelps again
with a litter of 13 on Oct. 13.
Normal litters average 7 or 8.
"Thank goodness it wasn’t the
30th of the month,” Phelps’ wife
said.
Contracting Firm Wins
Plaque for Speed in
Work at Elmendorf
SEATTLE, OB—The M-B Con
tracting Co., Seattle, has been
awarded a special citation by the
Army Corps of Engineers for
completing an $8,000,000 Elmen
dorf AFB job nearly a year ahead
of time.
The company’s contract called
for lengthening and strengthening
the base runway by next Septem
ber The job was wound up this
week. Work started last March.
The award, a plaque, was pre
sented by Col. Pierre V. Kieffer
Jr., Alaska district engineer, to J.
Irwin Miller, company president.
Alaska Day (Tomorrow) Is Occasion
For Dedication of New Women’s
Wing at Alaska Pioneers’ Home
The new women’s wing of the
Alaska Pioneers Home will be
dedicated on Alaska Day, October
18, and the board of trustees ex
tends a cordial invitation to the
public to attend the ceremonies.
The dedication has been planned
in conjunction with the Alaska
Day festival—a three-day celebra
tion commemorating the transfer
of the territory from Russia to the
United States.
The women’s wing, designed by
Linn Forrest, is similar in archi
tectural design and construction
to the main building of the Home.
The interior of the wing is ar
ranged in a series of suites, each
consisting of a double room, a
single room, and a bathroom con
nected by a small foyer.
All the rooms and corridors are
painted in pastel colors And the
windows will be covered with
draw drapes in harmonizing
shades. The third floor of the
wing, like that of the main build
ing, is equipped with hospital fa
cilities. Each floor has a spacious
lounge which will be furnished
with modem, sectional furniture.
Altho all the furniture has not
yet been received, the three ladies
now living in the Home will be
moved into the new wing before
the dedication, and others on the
waiting list will be admitted to
the Home as the rooms are ready.
Applications are now being ac
cepted, and ladies wishing to
apply for admission to the Home
should do so thru the local repre
sentative of the Alaska Depart
ment of Public Welfare.
Tomorrow’s dedication, at 10
a.m., will be preceded by an Alas
ka Day parade, which will end on
Castel Hill, the site of the trans
fer. There the Russian flag will
be lowered and the Stars and
Stripes will be raised in re-enact
ment of the ceremony which took
place 89 years ago—a fitting and
inspiring prolog to the dedication.
Latest Alaska
Election Returns
(By the Associated Press*
231 of 278 Precincts
Tenn. Plan, Senate
{ 6- Year Term )
Gruening (D) 13.088
Butrovich (R' 12,547
( 4 - Year Term )
Egan (D) 14,479
Atwood (R) 10,796
Tenn. Plan, Congress
Rivers (D) 14,484
Burdick (R) 10,497
Delegate to Congress
Bartlett (D) 17,578
Gillam (R) 8,703
Attorney General
Williams (D) 12,915
Sanders (R) 12,399 !
Highway Engineer
Metcalf (D) 13,392
Reed (R) 12,474
Taxi Cab Radio Calls
In N. Carolina Delay
Firing ol Rocket in Canada
FORT CHURCHILL, Man., —
Radio interference from taxicabs
in North Carolina, an air base in
Florida, and missile proving
grounds in New Mexico have de
layed U.S. Army attempts to test
fire a high-altitude rocket here in
the subarctic.
The test by the U.S. Ordnance
Corps had been set for noon to
day. But the Signal Corps team
found itself listening to taxicab
messages from Fort Bragg, N.C.,
Air Force signals from Florida,
and progress reports from the
White Sands, N.M., rocket-prov
ing grounds.
The rocket, a 26-foot Aerobee,
is packed with delicate instru
ments to measure wind, tempera
ture and density. The data will be
relayed by radio to scientists on
the ground.
Bill Cruickshanks, electronics
scientist from Aberdeen. Md., said
the interference came from radio
beams deflected off the iono
sphere, a band of rarefied gases
50 to 100 miles above the earth.
Officials began trying to find
out if interference is quieter at
night. If so, the rocket will be
launched late tonight.
Atlantic Coastal Storm
Causes Florida Floods
And $2 Million Damage
By the Associated Press
An Atlantic coastal storm which
drenched southeast sections of
the country, caused flooding in
several Florida areas and forced
evacuation of homes by some 200
persons, headed northward today.
Heaviest 24-hour rainfall was
nearly seven inches reported at
Jacksonville, Fla. Northeast storm
warnings were posted from
Brunswick, Ga., to Atlantic City,
N.J.
Water measured 30 inches deep
in the streets at Fellsmere, Fla.,
one of several towns flooded. Oth
ers included Kissimee, St. Cloud
and Taft.
Floodwaters at Kissimee forced
some 200 residents to evacuate
their homes as a creek beside the
town overflowed. Damage was es
timated at some $2 million.
Nixon Says Stevenson’s Proposal
To Halt Testing of H-Bomb Would
‘Increase the Chances for War
Town Erects Monument
To Hound Who Inspired
Famous Speech of 1870
WARRENSBUBG Mo., UV-'This
town plans to erect a statue to
“Old Drum," the hound who in
spired a famous speech in 1870 by
Sen. George Graham Vest, of Mis
souri.
The Chamber of Commerce
yesterday started a campaign to
collect $2,500 for the memorial.
Vest’s famous tribute to dogs
was delivered in a damage suit in
which he represented a man
whose dog dad been shot by a
neighbor in Warrensburg. The
jury deliberated two minutes and
awarded Vest’s client $500.
A bronze plaque on the memor
ial will carry the senator’s short
speech, including the line:
“A dog is the one absolutely
unselfish friend that man can
have in this selfish world, the one
that never deserts him and the
one that never proves ungrateful
or treacherous.”
Eisenhower Gets
Big Welcomes in
Minn, and Seattle
SEATTLE, UP!—President Eisen
hower turned his campaign today
to the battle for Washington
State’s nine electoral votes with
an aide picturing him as optimis
tic about his chances for carrying
Minnesota.
The President’s big pitch for
the Washington State vote comes
tonight at an address at a rally at
Civil Auditorium here. He will be
plugging, too, for election of Re
publican Gov. Arthur B. Langlie
to the U.S. Senate.
Eisenhower arrived in Seattle
late yesterday after being greeted
by enthusiastic crowds in Minne
sota, where he spoke at midday
in downtown Minneapolis and St.
Paul. Newsmen who have trav
eled with the President thruout
his campaign figured the turnout
as the largest so far.
Here in Seattle, the crowds on
the route from the airport were
thinner than in the twin cities,
but were jam-packed around the
Hotel Olympic, where the Presi
dent and Mrs. Eisenhower are
staying.
In the Minneapolis and St. Paul
areas, Eisenhower rode about 30
miles in an open car and he stood,
waving to the crowds, just about
all the way. He did the same on
the ride from the airport here.
At the airport at dusk he was
met by his brother Edgar, and by
Gov. Langlie. After tonight's
speech the President will drive to
Tacoma to spend the night at
Edgar’s home there.
On Friday, he will travel to
Los Angeles for a speech that eve
ning at the Hollywood Bowl. On
the way back to Washington on
Saturday he will speak in Denver.
> (By me Associated Press*
Vice President Nixon said last
night Adlai Stevenson’s policies
“would increase the chances for
war,”
Speaking in Buffalo, N.Y., Nix
on said the nation would be “tak
ing a fearful risk” in electing Ste
venson if he persists in the stand
he has taken on the H-bomb issue.
Nixon said: “In a nutshell, the
difference between the Eisenhow
er and Stevenson positions is:
“Mr. Stevenson says we should
stop our tests if we can get other
nations to sign agreements that
they will do so.
“President Eisenhower says v.re
should stop our tests only if we
can get an agreement which is
backed by foolproof inspection.”
Nixon said “Mr. Stevenson’s
policy of military weakness and
naive reliance on Communist
promises wiuld increase the
chances for war.”
Former New York Gov. Thomas
E. Dewey last night described
Stevenson’s H-bomb proposal as
“an invitation to national suicide.”
Dewey said Stevenson “has not
yet explained what would prevent
the whole world from falling to
the Reds if we had neither mili
tary manpower nor the best nu
clear weapons and he can never
explain it.”
• • •
BULLETIN
SEATTLE Ml—President Eisen
hower today directed top admin
istration officials to prepare a
new reply to Adlai Stevenson’s
proposal that efforts be made to
halt H-bomb testing.
Yugoslavia Resertts Tone
Of U.S. Statement
On Continuing Aid
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Iff!—A
Foreign Ministry representative
said today President Eisenhower’s
statement on aid to Yugoslavia
“contains elements which are not
in conformity with principles of
independent and .equal coopera
tion between the two countries.
In a statement, the Foreign
Ministry said Yugoslavia would
renounce U.S. aid “in case the
American government considers
it difficult to continue” it.
President Eisenhower decided
last Monday to continue econom
ic aid to Yugoslavia but to hold
up on delivery of important mili
tary aid, including 200 jet air
planes, after President Tito paid
a surprise visit to the Soviet Un
ion for confidential talks. The
President said he believed Yugo
slavia remained independent of
control by the Soviet Union, but
the delivery of the warplanes
would be held up “until the situa
tion can be more accurately ap
praised.”
The Yugoslav Foreign Ministry
said U.S. military aid during the
year had “practically ceased to
exist.”