22 NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No. 103NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 1953Per Copy—15^
Communists Say
They Will Return
All U.N. Cap lives
PANMUNJ OM, IP'—A returned
U. S. prisoner said Friday the
Communists told his camp they
would return all captives, includ
ing those convicted of ‘‘germ war
fare” or other “crimes” which car
ried sentences of “ho repatria
tion.”
The report came as the Com
munists turned back 144 more
Americans, many of whom told of
continuing brutality and torture
behind closed doors right up to
the armistice.
Lt. Roy T. Boyd, Winnetka, 111.,
said the Chinese commander at
his camp told prisoners a few
days ago the Reds would return
all prisoners, adding that this
“includes criminals and men con
victed of germ warfare.”
Peiping has maintained that un
der terms of the Geneva Conven
tion for treatment of war prison
ers, the Communists had a right
to withhold from immediate re
patriation men convicted of
“crimes.” The United Nations
Command pointed out the armis
tice agreement calls for the re
turn of all willing prisoners.
Prisoners have said many of
their comrades were sentenced on
such phony charges as “instigat
ing against the peace” and others
were forced to confess they had
waged germ warfare. The United
Nations Command has dismissed
the Red germ warfare charges as
propaganda.
Friday’s delivery brought the
number erf Americans returned to
2,422 of the 3,313 the Reds said
they held. The Reds have sent
back a total of 9,819 of the 12,776
Allied POWs they listed.
Only Nations Who Fought
Under U.N. To Sit In On
Korean Peace Conference
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., UP—
The U.N. General Assembly gave
an overwhelming endorsement
Friday to an American - backed
plan for the Korean peace confer
ence despite vigorous Russian op
position.
The plan provides that only
countries who fought under the
U.N. banner should represent the
world organization at the parley.
India averted a certain defeat
by withdrawing as a possible par
ticipant just before the voting
began.
With United States backing, the
assembly recommended that Rus
sia could take part in the confer
ence, “provided the other side de
sires it.” This means that, if Rus
sia goes, she will have to sit on
the Communist side with Red
China and North Korea.
Today’s action concluded the'
work of the special assembly
meeting which opened two weeks
ago to choose U.N. representatives
at the peace conference.
The assembly directed the
United States to arrange the time
and place of the conference after
consultation with both sides. The
meeting must be held by Oct. 28,
under terms of t he armistice
agreement.
FBI Nabs Two Fugitive
U.S. Communist Leaders
SAN FRANCISCO, (#> — Two'
fugitive Communist leaders and
three alleged satellites, charged
with harboring them in a remote
mountain hideout, were swept up
in a dramatic capture Friday by
[ FBI agents posing as campers.
Sixteen FBI agents in campers’
blue jeans caught Robert George
Thompson and Sidney Steinberg
in a cabin 8,000 feet up in the
rugged Sierra Nevadas, about 200
miles east of San Francisco.
Their arrest climaxed a relent
less two-year manhunt.
Thompson, one of 11 top Com
munist leaders convicted in 1951
of violating the Smith Act, was
rushed to Alcatraz. He disappear
ed two years ago when ordered to
report to federal court in New
York for commitment for a three
year prison term.
Steinberg, indicted with 21
other “second string” Reds in
1951 on similar Smith Act charges
was jailed here on 8100,000 bail.
I onian. 61, Flies
Atlantic Nonstop
SHANNON AIRPORT, Ireland,
UP—Mrs. Marian Hart, 61-vear-old
American sportswoman, flew a
single-engine sports plane nonstop
across the Atlantic yesterday in
13Vi hours.
It was the first direct crossing
in a small, single engine plane
from Newfoundland to Ireland
since the pioneering days of trans
Atlantic flight.
The New York woman said she
planned the flight to save the cost
of taking the wings off her Beach
craft and sending it across by
ship.
The project wound up costing
her three times as much as it
would have to ship the plane but
it was worth it she said, because
“it was such a beautiful crossing
in bright moonlight.” She declined
to say how much she spent.
She was accompanied by Wayne
Vetterlein, 30, of Shawnee on
Delaware, Pa., who served as co
pilot and navigator.
They covered about 2,500 miles
from their takeoff at Torbay,
Nfld. Flying at 9,000 feet, they ar
rived here an hour behind sched
ule, but still had enough fuel left
for 3Vz hours of flying.
Vetterlein made the trip on a
busman’s holiday basis, while tak
ing a few days off from his regu
lar job as co-pilot with Pan Am
erican Airways.
CAPITAL TELEPHONE
OPERATORS ON STRIKE
WASHINGTON, LP)—Thousands
of telephone workers, probably
about 10,000, went on strike Fri
day in the nation’s capital and
in the nearby states of Maryland
and West Virginia.
They joined about 60,000 other
members of the CIO’s Communi
cations Workers of America who
already were idle in strikes in
Indiana and in the southwest.
However, phone service in the
areas was reported normal. Su
pervisory employes filled in and
mechanical equipment kept local
calls going through.
Statehood Chances
‘Not Bad," Savs
J
Sen. Hugh Butler
ANCHORAGE, W — Sen. Hugh
Butler, who alone has opposed
statehood for Alaska, said Wed
nesday he believes the prospects
for statehood now are “not bad.”
The senator, chairman of the
Senate Interior and Insular Af
fairs Committee which has been
conducting hearings on statehood
in the territory, said he would call
a meeting of the committee to
consider the problem before the
scheduled January 6 opening of
Congress.
He has ordered transcript of the
hearings and will distribute copies
to all senators before the conven
ing date if possible.
Butler said Alaskans would be
smart to get all the land they
could. He pointed to the troubles
experienced by Western states
where the federal government still
controlled large areas. He ex
pressed the belief Alaska could
afford to wait for statehood but
should not be asked to wait “for
ever or an unreasonably long
time.”
Even with favorable legislation
this session, he said, it would re
quire two years of proceedings
before the territory could achieve
statehood.
He visited Cordova and Valdez
Wednesday and planned a tour of
the Matanuska Valley Thursday.
Five other senators who had been
here for the hearings returned to
the States.
Delegate Bartlett said he be
lieved a territory - wide referen
dum now would show statehood
winning 4 to 1. He based his be
lief on the preponderance of testi
mony at the committee hearings.
‘My hope now is,” he said, “that
the administration will come out
in favor of both Hawaii and
Alaska, in conformance with the
GOP platform.”
President of Fur Workers
Union Indicted For
Communist Membership
WASHINGTON, UR—A federal
grand jury here indicted Ben
Gold, Fur Workers Union presi
dent, Friday on charges that he
lied jwhen he swore in an affidavit
to the National Labor Relations
Board in August, 1950, that he
was not a Communist.
Immediately after the perjury
indictment was returned, the Jus
tice Department announced a
warrant had been issued for Gold,
a New Yorker, and that the gov
ernment will ask that his bond be
set at $10,000.
Gold is head of the Interna
tional Fur and Leather Workers
Union of the United States and
Canada. This union was ousted
from the CIO in 1949 on grounds
that it had been infiltrated by
Communists.
In the NLRB affidavit, Gold as
serted he was not then a mem
ber of the Communist party, that
he had no affiliation with it, and
did not support its policies.
The indictment charged that all
of these statements were false.
Most Disastrous Season
Of Modem Times for
Alaska Salmon Fishers
JUNEAU, UR—'The 1953 Alaska
salmon fishing season was de
scribed by Department of fisher
ies agents Wednesday as the
“most disastrous of modern
times.”
The total Alaska pack this year
will probably be well under three
million cases, a spokesman said.
The expected small total pack
would be the first below the three
million figure since 1921, when
a poor market and a big carry
over made a light pack.
Congressman Questions
Marine Corps Promotion
22 General At This Time
WASHINGTON, UR—Rep. Nor
blad (R-Ore) asked the Marine
Carps Friday to explain why it is
promoting 22 generals at a time
when he said economy is in order.
Norblad, a member of the
Armed Services Committee, said
in a letter to Gen. Lemuel C.
Shepherd, Marine commandant,
that he had learned the corps was
“placing on its rolls and the tax
poyer’s rolls, an additional 22 gen
erals.
The congressman added that
“under an administration which is
trying to justify the spending of
every taxpayers’ dollar this pro
cedure seems very questionable to
me.”
A Marine spokesman said the
promotions were to fill vacancies
and did not exceed the limit on
top ranking officers voted by the
last Congress as part of the mili
tary appropriation bill.
Auditor Refuses
Voucher Payment
To Statehood Secy.
JUNEAU, (#)—A $1,470 voucher
filed by Mrs. Mildred Hermann,
Juneau attorney, for work as sec
retary of the Alaska Statehood
Committee has been disallowed
by Territorial Auditor Neil Moore.
Citing an attorney general’s
opinion, Moore refused to author
ize payment on grounds any work
for the territory by a salaried ter
ritorial employe is covered by his
salary, and no overtime payment
is allowed by law.
He said Mrs. Hermann as State
hood Committee secretary re
ceives a salary of $35 a month.
Mrs. Hermann claimed $5 an
hour for 294 hours she said was
spent preparing material for the
recently published 43-page State
hood Committee report.
Supporting the claim, she at
tached excerpts of committee
meetings early-4his year. The^ in
dicated the committee, on motion
of former Governor Gruening,
unanimously approved setting
aside $5,000 for preparation and
printing of the biennial report.
Moore, in refusing payment,
said a committee vote cannot
supersede the law.
Mrs. Hermann can appeal the
ruling to an appeals board com
posed of the governor, attorney
general and treasurer.
B-36s Take Part In
War Exercises Near
Russian Territory
J
TOKYO, (M — The U.S. Air
Force said tonight that giant B-36
bombers flown to Japan this week
under war-like secrecy are team
ing up with other warplanes in a
realistic combat-type Far East ex
ercise within 700 miles of Vladi
vostok, a Russian stronghold base.
A mass flight of B-36’s, capable
of carrying the atomic bomb any
where in the world, landed near
Tokyo Tuesday after a trailblaz
ing flight across the Pacific.
A ‘second flight landed this
morning for the exercise, dubbed
“Operation Big Stick.”
An official Far East Air Forces
release said the huge bombers are
“conducting an operational train
ing exercise in the Far East . . .
involving -realistic combat - type
training missions.”
A veil of secrecy hung over the
operation and the Air Force would
not reveal either the number of
planes in the exercise or its du
ration.
Ybkota Air Base outside Tokyo,
where several B-36s landed in
Friday’s flight is only 700 miles
from Vladivostok, a key Russian
port. More B-36s landed at other
undisclosed bases.
Alaska Steam Cuts
Passenger Fares To
Alaska 5 to 15 Per Cent
SEATTLE, Iff)—Passenger fare
reductions of 5 to 15 per cent be
come effective on Alaska Steam
ship Company vessels effective
Sept. 1, H. N. Peterson, company
general traffic manager, an
nounced today.
The reduced fare’s apply on all
one-way and round trip trans
portation between Seattle and
Alaska and between Alaska ports
he said.
The line announced earlier this
week that the passenger service,
although unprofitable, would be
continued through October and
that it had to find some solution
that would enable it to continue
to provide Alaska year-around
passenger service.
37 Reindeer Await
Transportation to States
Santa’s reindeer, 37 in number,
are impatiently waiting at Nome
Field for Wien Airlines to trans
port them to their new homes in
the States.
Twelve of them will go to
Goldthswaite, Texas, with Grady
Carothers, to join- up with other
Nome reindeer there and prepare
to do Santa’s work during the
holidays.
Fourteen go with Fred Fortune
to Lake Placid, where they will
be trained to pull Santa’s sled in
Santa Land.
Eleven are being shipped to
John Sumstein of Salem, Ore.,
there to join their 10 cousins who
made the flight last year.
The deer for Lake Placid and
Salem will fly all the way to their
new homes. The Texas deer will
fly to Fairbanks and be transport
ed the rest of the way on a spec
ially' built van.