SSI NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VCLTLVI~NoT24 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24, 1954 Per Copy—15<
Mike Walsh Named
2d Division Representative
Of New Alaska Industry
Another big steel company has
chosen to qualify under territorial
law to do business in Alaska.
Bethlehem Pacific Coast Steel
Corporation, with 885.000,000 in
assets is the most recent, having
filed recently with Territorial
Auditor Neal Moore.
Juneau agent named is R. E.
Robertson, while Michael J. Walsh
is to be Second Division agent,
John Manders Third Division rep
resentative, and Ernest Collins
and Charles Clasby Fourth Divi
sion.
Paroled Lifer Will Be
Farthest North Gardener
At Arctic Circle Springs
FAIRBANKS, OP — Herbert
Spring, 67-year-old parolee who
started life anew after serving 47
years in an Illinois penitentiary,
is going to become the farthest
north professional gardener on the
American continent.
Ross Kimball, Fairbanks busi
nessman who arranged for
Spring’s parole from the States
ville Penitentiary in Joliet, re
vealed today that Spring is leav
ing this week for Arctic Circle
Hot Springs to be gardener for
the resold there.
The resort, located about 80
miles from the actual Arctic Cir
cle, is famed for its gardens where
cabbages up to three feet in diam
- eter are grown in summer under
the almost perpetual sunlight
from the arctic midnight sun.
The place has a large green
house as well as outdoor growing
areas. Warm mineral water from
the hot springs is used to water
the gardens.
Early Morning
Fire Destroys
Nome Field Chapel
Nome residents wc-re awakened
at about 1:30 this morning by
three blasts on the fire alarm
system. The fire was at the chapel
and day room at Nome Field.
Maj. K. D. Swisher, command
ing officer, reported this after
noon that to all practical pur
poses the building is a total loss.
Among the equipment destroy
ed in the day room was approxi
mately a thousand dollars’ worth
of new furniture, only recently
purchased, for use in the newly
inaugurated base-town youth re
creational program. The furniture
was bought by money from the
Airmen’s Fund and was not of
ficial Air Force property.
Maj. Swisher said that the fire
was under control by 2:00 a.m.,
in that there was no danger of
its spreading, but that little could
be done to further save the build
ing. *
The Nome Fire Department and
Volunteers responded to the call
as soon as it was turned in and
remained at the scene until about
4:00 a.m. before returning to
town. The temperature at the
time of the fire was reported to
have been in the low thirties
below zero.
Philippine Government
Attacks Red-Led Huks
MANILA, Philippine Islands, (#)
—A five-pronged, air-supported
assault was launched Tuesday
against Communist-led Huks who
ignored a government surrender
ultimatum.
About 1,300 Huks remain un
conquered throughout the Philip
pines.
Charlie (Now Charlotte) McLeod
Recovers from 'Christine' Operation
With Help of Copenhagen Doctors
COPENHAGEN, UP—D a n i s h
doctors have again lent nature a
helping hand, and a young Amer
ican who came here last winter
as Charlie McLeod is now almost
ready to return to Louisiana as
Charlotte McLeod.
After a series of hormone in
jections and operations at Copen
hagen hospitals through the last
year, Miss McLeod has reached
her goal after overcoming troubles
that she called “just one year of
hell.”
The reason of all this trouble,
28-year-old Charlotte said, was
“the bad publicity of a recent sim
ilar case.”
Leaning heavily on a walking
stick because her feet still are
somewhat numb after the last
operation, Charlotte said she
wanted to go back to the United
States but she lacked the money.
Charlotte said her home is in
New Orleans. She told a corres
pondent she had planned for a
long time to come to Copenhagen,
making that decision long before
the Christine Jorgensen case de
veloped.
But when she came here she
discovered that Danish doctors
were tied by a 1953 law that per
mitted them to make “the initial
operation” only on Scandinavians.
“The thought of having come
all this way in vain and of return
ing as the Charlie I hated was
unbearable,” she said. “So I man
aged to have this first operation
made unofficially. It happened on
a kitchen table at midnight and
that’s all I want to say about that,
but the operation almost killed
me.”
It took Charlotte months to re
cover but then the Danish doctors
could take care of her according
to the law. Injections and opera
tions followed. She spent months
in hospitals and clinics. Famous
professors and plastic surgeons
worked on her, mostly free of
charge because she could not af
ford to pay the bills.
Miss McLeod said she was in
the Army for three months in
1948 and got an honorable dis
charge for medical reasons. “Any
one could see that I was no soldier
and that it was all a mistake,” she
said.
j Further Income Tax Cuts
Probable, Says High
! Republican Source
WASHINGTON, UP)—A high Re
publican source said today the
Eisenhower Administration prob
ably would go along later in this
Congressional session with some
further individual income tax
cuts.
But GOP Congressional leaders
threw no light on this prospect as
they came out of a lV^-hour con
ference with the President at the
White House. ^
House Speaker Joseph W. Mar
tin Jr. said the subject of taxes
did not come up in the conference.
A well-informed Republican,
however, said pressure is building
up for individual income tax cuts
and he expects the administration
probably will go along ultimately
with some reductions. The cuts
could be made retroactive to the
first of the year, he added.
Marines Told To
Tell Red Captors
Anything Asked
WASHINGTON, (£>—A Marine
flier testified today the great ma
jority of American airmen he met
in Korea war prisoner camps had
been told by their superiors be
fore their capture to tell the Com
munists anything the Reds wanted
to know.
Maj. Walter R. Harris, recently
decorated for courageously resist
ing pressure while a prisoner, told
a Marine court of inquiry the
Americans’ instructions did not
mean, however, they should give
false information such as germ
warfare “confessions.”
The four-member court is in
vestigating the conduct of another
Marine officer, Col. Frank Schwa
ble, who did make a false confes
sion of taking part in germ war
fare.
Harris, a former Birmingham,
Ala., policeman, testified he him
self was instructed at El Toro,
Calif., in April, 1952, before going
to Korea, to give information
freely in the event of his capture.
He said a captain whose name
he didn’t remember told an indoc
trination class this was a new
kind of war and the old idea that
a prisoner should give only his
name, rank and serial number
was out the window.
Harris said the captain told the
Korea-bound fliers in effect:
“They’re going to find out any
way—go ahead and tell them the
truth right off.”
Later, in POW camps where he
wound up, Harris said he found
75 to 80 percent of all air person
nel had been instructed to “tell
’em anything they ask—it can’t
hurt us.”
TV Viewers See Fire
In Which Three Die
LOUISVILLE, Ky., UB — Three
persons died and four others
were injured seriously Monday
night in an apartment building
fire viewed by thousands on their
television sets.
Witness Who "Broke With Party”
J ■
Names Signal Corps Employee As
Member of Communist Conspiracy
15,000,000 Chinese Killed
By Communist Leaders,
Says Asst. State Secretary |
WASHINGTON, OP)—Asst. Sec- j
retary of State Walter T. Robert
son has told Congress the Chi
nese Reds, in “just about the
bloodiest pattern that the Com- j
munists have followed in any
country in the world,” have killed
about 15 million of their own peo
ple since 1949.
Robertson, whose province is
Far Eastern affairs, attributed
this huge death toll to liquida
tions and government - ignored
starvation.
In testimony on the State De
partment’s budget request, made
public by the House Appropria
tions Committee Tuesday, Rob
ertson said the department anti
cipates. in Asia for the foreseeable
future “emergencies, crises and
problems of the greatest import
ance and magnitude.”
$59,870 LEFT IN
WOLF BOUNTY FUND
JUNEAU—Small inroads are
being made on territorial bounty
funds, figures reveal at the offices
of Territorial Treasurer Henry
Roden.
Out of 875,000 in the kitty for
wolf and coyote bounties, hunters
have collected only $15,130.
In the seal bounty fund, set up
for 860,000, scalp payments have
been made of $26,793.
Payments of only $270 have
been put out for wolverine boun
ties, leaving $4,370 in the kitty.
The territory pays $3 for the
scalp of a hair seal taken in a
damage area, $50 for wolf, $30
for a coyote and $15 for a wol
verine.
They Call This
Dog Racing?
FAIRBANKS,if)—Veteran mush
ers in this land can hardly believe
the winning time in the IS^orth
American Dog Racing Champion
ships at West Yellowstone, Mont.
They can hardly believe it could
be so low.
A dispatch from the southland
last night told of Ernest Harring
field’s hounds from Ashton, Idaho,
winning the all-breed five-mile
race in 27 minutes.
By Alaska standards that bare
ly would get ’em there with the
mail.
For example, Howard Luke, a
native musher, drove his team
over a difficult 16-mile course
near Fairbanks Sunday in a bare
45 seconds over one hour. That
was at a rate of five miles in less
than 20 minutes, compared with
the Idaho team’s 27 minutes in a
much shorter race.
Luke’s effort was in a prelimin
ary to next month’s champion
ships. The dogs are expected to do
even better in the title race.
What are those stateside dog
drivers doing, Alaska mushers are
wondering, stopping along the
way for a beer?
' WASHINGTON, (iW—Mrs. Annie
Lee Moss, Army Signal Corps
employe, came before Sen. Mc
Carthy today but did not testify
after he told her a witness who
“broke with the party last night”
had named her as “a member of
the Communist conspiracy.”
After a whispered consultation
outside the hearing room, George
E. C. Hayes, attorney for Mrs.
Moss, announced he did not think
his client was able to testify.
McCarthy had suggested that
they confer, coupling with that a
warning that any indication of
“perjury” would be submitted to
a grand jury. He noted also that
Mrs. Moss had not been well.
When Hayes announced Mrs.
Moss would not take the witness
chair today, McCarthy asserted
that it had been “clearly” estab
lished that Mrs. Moss was a Com
munist Party member.
McCarthy recessed his hearings
until tomorrow when Secretary
of the Army Stevens is to appear
for a face-to-face encounter on
McCarthy’s charge that the Army
has been soft toward Communists.
Stevens, in an angry exchange
last weekend, accused McCarthy
of “abusing” Army officers who
have appeared before his investi
gations subcommittee. The secre
tary directed that two officers,
who had been subpoenaed should
not appear.
McCarthy opened a hearing by
his Senate Investigations subcom
mittee with a dramatic announce
ment that two Communist wit
nesses “broke with the party” last
night and agreed to “give us all
the information they had.”
Mrs. Moss, a gray-haired Negro
of 48, wept as she and her coun
sel walked from the room. Only
yesterday Hayes had told report
ers Mrs. Moss wished to testify
and that her stand was that she
was not and never had been a
Communist.
McCarthy asserted at yester
day’s session that Mrs. Moss han
dled “top secret” messages at the
Pentagon. Later, the Army came
out with a statement saying she
never had “access to the codes
. . . or the code books.”
The Army said she had, how
ever, worked in the communica
tions center prior to Feb. 5 and in
that job handled “unintelligible
code messages, both classified (se
cret) and unclassified.”
British Army Prepares
Guided Atomic Rocket
LONDON, iff)—Britain’s atom
age army is readying a guided
atomic rocket for use in ground
attack, a War Office memoran
dum disclosed today.
Man Dies In Crush
Of Aussies Seeing Queen
MELBOURNE, Australia, —
A man was crushed to death when
10,000 excited Australians burst
through a barrier of police and
troops to see Queen Elizabeth II
arrive in Melbourne.