m NOME NUGGET
__OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 19 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1955_Per Copy—15^
Actress Abigail Adams
Apparent Suicide From
Sleeping Pills Overdose
BEVERLEY HILLS, Calif., (#
A police physician has described
the death oi Actress Abigail Ad
ams, onde the fiance of Comedian
George Jessel, as an apparent, sui
cide from an overdose of sleeping
pills.
Her body, clad in a blue night
gown, was found in bed in her
Beverly Hills apartment yester
day by Max Marks, a drug store
owner. Marks said he had taken
Miss Adams night-clubbing Sat
urday night and had checked back
yesterday afternoon when the 37
year-old brunette did not answer
her phone.
Jessel, a frequent social com
panion of Miss Adams, said he
was engaged to her about eight
years ago. ‘'But not lately,” he
added.
‘‘I took her to the races at San
ta Anita last Friday,” Jessel .said.
“She was in wonderful spirits. It
is a shocking thing.” Jessel said
he was supposed to have a dinner
date with her last night.
Crosby, Garland
Favorites for
Oscar Awards
HOLLYWOOD, UP)—An all-im
portant factor—a split in the big
studio vote—today made Oscar
favorites of Bing Crosby, Judy
Garland, and the picture “The
Country Girl.”
The nominations were witnessed
Saturday hight throughout the
nation over NBC-TV as will the
Academy Award finals on March
30.
Prior to the nominations, Cros
by, the tipsy-has-been actor of
“The Country Girl,” and Marlon
Brando, the punchy pug of “On
the Waterfront,” were rated neck
and neck favorites.
But the nominations presented
Brando ‘solid opposition from
within his own studio. Humphrey
Bogart, Gapt. Queeg of “The
Caine Mutiny,” also was nomin
„ ated. Both “Waterfront” and
“Caine” are Columbia pictures.
Although Academy voters try
to forget old school loyalties in
the selections, it is only human
that many of them vpte according
toaJheir studio’s product.
That gives Crosby, a slight edge
in the top actor classification be
cause he is Paramount’s only en
try. Apparently the studio is be
* hind him to a man, which would
explain the surprise absence of
William Hodlen from the nomi
nees. Holden co-starred with
Crosby in “Country Girl.”
Besides Bogart, Crosby and
# • Brando, the other top actor nom
inees' are James Mason (“A Star
Is Born”) and Dan O’Herlihy
(“The Adventures of Robinson
Crusoe”).
CAUSE FOR COMPLAINT
TOKYO, MP> — Vodka may yet
come between the Japanese and
Russians. At a time when the two
countries appear to be moving to
ward a settlement of their dif
ferences, a group of touring
Japanese wrestlers returned from
0 the Soviet Union with this com
plaint:
° They were welcomed every
where they went, but they were
e offered too much vodka. They
couldn’t get a drink of sake any
where.
The Russians drink to much
anyway, the beefy grapplers said.
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Airliner V anishes
North of Rome
With 29 Aboard
ROME, iIt,—A search for a miss
ing Sabena airliner with 29 per
sons aboard swung from the
snow-covered mountains north of
Rome today to the storm-tossed
sea off Civitavecchia, further
west.
Almost 24 hours had passed
without a clue to the fate of the
DC-6 that vanished Sunday into
a fog.
The ship then was only 16 min
utes flying time north of Rome
while enroute from Brussels to
the Belgian Congo.
Hope was virtually abandoned
for the 21 passengers—14 Bel
gians, 4 Americans, 2 French, and
19-year-old Marcella Mariani, un
lucky Miss Italy of 1953—and the
crew of seven Belgians and a
Briton,
Through most of a day of steady
snowfall, hundreds of Carabinieri
and more than 1,000 villagers and
farmers scoured the woody moun
tains 27 miles north of Rome af
ter two farmers told police they
saw the plane “falling in flames”
last night.
Most efforts turned back to the
sea off the old Roman port of Civ
itavecchia when a helicopter crew
reported seeing “what looked like
a pretty big oil smear” on the
water 10 miles offshore.
Dillingham Marshal Dies
In Light Plane Crash
ANCHORAGE, —Jack Toone,
deputy marshal at Dillingham
and former resident of Bremer
ton, Wash., was found dead Fri
day in the wreckage of his small
plane, the CAA reported.
The plane cracked up on a
flight after completing half of a
60-mile flight from Naknck to
Dillingham, 350 miles southwest
of here. Toone was returning to
his post after helping Anchorage
deputy Cecil Johnson arrest a pri
soner and return him to Naknek.
He came to Alaska last summer
from Bremerton. A widow and
two children survive at Dilling
ham.
PTA Sponsors Meeting
With Mental Health Team
At School Thursday
I The P.-T.A. has announced that
it is sponsoring an open meeting
Thursday evening to introduce j
the mental health team of the
Alaska Dept, of Health. Dr.
Charles Anderson, head of the
team, visited Nome last Novem
ber, and is accompanied by Mary
Lou Prawl and James Parson.
They will explain to the public
the purpose and work of their
group. The new Mental Health
bill and its importance to the ter
ritory will be stressed and any
questions answered. The group
has been working in the territory
for the past two years under han
dicaps which they can explain in
detail.
Anyone having psychiatric
problems may make appointments
through the Public Health Center
for time during Tuesday, Wednes
day or Thursday. Part of their
program is child guidance, partic
ularly school children. Their ser
vices are available to anyone in
the community.
The meeting is scheduled for
Thursday evening at 8:00 p..m at
the High School Assembly Room.
Actor Tom Moore, 71,
Dies of Cancer With
Quip as Last Words
SANTA MONICA, Calif., UP—
Tom Moore, 71, a star of the stage
and silent films, died Saturday of
cancer with a quip as his last
words.
His wife, stage and television
actress Eleanor Merry said that
Moore’s last words were: “ I cer
tainly will know how to play a
death scene from now on.”
Moore, who had played oppo
site most of the top feminine stars
during his heyday as a silent
screen idol, had been ill about a
year.
Moore’s brothers, Matt, who
lives here, and the late Owen
Moore, former husband of Mary
Pickford, followed him from Ire
land, their home. They also be
came leading men.
Republicans, Democrats Favor Late
Dates for 1956 National Conventions
WASHINGTON, W—The Dem
ocrats today set July 23 as the
date for their 1956 convention to
open in Chicago unless some
states change their laws mean
time to permit a later opening
date.
National Chairman Paul M.
Butler announced a study of state
election statutes showed it would
be impractical to hold up the con
vention until Aug. 13„ as tenta
tively planned earlier. Some
states, he explained, require cer
tification of the presidential can
didates anywhere from 70 to 90
days before Election Day.
The national committee said
the states which would have to
change their laws to make an
Aug. 13 convention date partic
ularly include South Dakota, Con
necticut and Massachusetts.
Butler said reaction to the idea
of a late convention date and a
shorter campaign had been favor
able and he was suggesting to
Democratic leaders they study the
possibility of changes in state
laws which stand as a barrier to
this.
WASHINGTON, President
Eisenhower and Republican lead
ers today talked over the question
of where and when to hold the
1956 GOP national convention but
reported they came to no decision.
GOP National Chairman Leon
ard Hall told reporters the Presi
dent expressed no preference
among contending cities but fa
vored a convention date as late
as possible and a short campaign.
Hall also said he is “going on
the assumption” Eisenhower will
accept nomination for a second
term.
The time and place for the GOP
convention is to be decided for
mally by the party’s national
committee at a meeting here on
Thursday.
Alaskans Favored for
State s Teacher Colleges
OLYMPIA, Wash, The Wash
ington State Senate voted 32 to 5
Saturday to require all out-of
state students, except those from
Alaska, to pay SI00 a year tuition
to attend Washington State’s
teachers colleges.
Ehiang Kai-Shek Determined to Hold
Offshore Isles, Expects U.S. Backing
Two Crewmen
Missing After
Jet Explodes
WINNIPEG, I#—U.S. and Can
adian planes scanned the frozen
wastes of northern Saskatchewan
today for two crewmen of a U.S.
Stratojet bomber which crashed
Saturday after exploding 35,000
feet up. Two others have been
rescued.
The two survivors, Lt. Col.
Kenneth G. McGrew of Yakima,
Wash., and Capt. Lester E. Epton
of Preakness, N.J., both 33, said
they were hurled unconscious
from the plane and came to while
plummeting earthward. McGrew’s
parachute was opening as he re
vived and Epton pulled his rip
cord at about 15,000 feet.
They were brought last night
to the Canadian Air Force hospi
tal here, where both were report
ed in “good condition” despite
their ordeal in subzero tempera
ture. Air Force officials said Ep
ton, who was marooned in the
snow more than 30 hours, suf
fered frostbitten feet and severely
bloodshot eyes.
Both were to be flown back
today to their Air Force base, at
March Field, Piiverside, Calif.
McGrew, the commander of the
aircraft, and Epton were both
spotted in the frozen bush by
RCAF rescue planes about a mile
and a half apart Saturday after
noon. Both were dressed in reg
ular uniforms with summer cov
eralls. “We had winter gear with
us, but we were foolish enough
not to wear it,” Epton said.
Nehru Would
Favor Nationalists
In Conference
LONDON, —Indian Prime ]
Minister Nehru came out today
for Nationalist China's participa
tion in any international confer
ence on the Formosa issue. Brit
ain, holding a similar view, urged
a quick cease-fire as the prelude
to such a parley.
France lined up with Britain
and the United States .in criticism
of Soviet Foreign Minister V. M.
Molotov’s proposal for a 10-power
conference that would exclude
Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Na
tionalists. A spokesman in Paris
said “it is not possible that this
proposition could produce any
concrete results.”
A few hours later, a British
Foreign Office spokesman told
newsmen:
“Her Majesty’s Government be
lieve it would be an advantage
to work for an end to the fighting
in advance of a conference, should
there be an agreement to hold a
conference. An end to the fighting
would improve the chanpes of a
conference succeeding.”
The British ambassador in Mos
cow, Sir William Hayter, is still
exploring with the Russians the
idea of a Formosa Parley, the
spokesman said. But he added:
“We wish to make it clear the
contacts with the Soviet govern
ment on the basis of their propos
al should not be construed as
committing us to a conference as
a means of bringing about a set
tlement of the question to the ex
clusion of other methods.”
p TAIPEH, Formosa, I#)—Gener
alissimo Chiang Kai-shek ex
pressed determination today to
hold the rest of the Chinese Na
tionalists’ offshore islands and
made it plain he expects the Uni
ted States to help him fight for
them if the Chinese Communists
attack.
“In no case,” h£ asserted, would
the strategic islands Quemoy and
Matsu be abandoned.
Chiang met newsmen at Na
tionalist headquarters hqre after
the Reds’ Peiping Radio triumph
antly announced “liberation” of
the Tachen Islands, evacuated by
the Nationalists last week with
the aid of the U.S. 7th Fleet. Pei
ping boasted it placed Red sol
diers “on vantage ground for lib
erating Taiwan (Formosa) .and
other islands off the China coast.”
Contrary to some reports, the
Nationalist Defense Ministry an
nounced it had no intention of
evacuating Nanchishan, 140 miles
north of Formosa and now the
main northern Nationalist outpost.
The ministry said a small num
i ber of dependents and civilians
| had been removed and more
would be removed, but no troops
would be withdrawn.
Nanchishan is 23 miles from the
mainland. When newsmen visited
the island last year about 2,000
civilians were there. Tt?b size of
the garrison was not reported.
I Chiang smiled contentedly as
• he faced the largest news confer
! ence held here since the National
ists fled the mainland in 1949.
“You newsmen fear the islands
will not be jointly defended,” he
said softly. “But I think the mat
ter is very clear.”
The windup of the Tachen
evacuation operation was punctu
ated by three hours of Commu
nist shelling of Quemoy, 120 miles
across the Strait of Formosa, on
Sunday morning. The Reds
poured over 59 shells from Amoy
port and received “a heavy retal
iation barrage” in return.
Congressman Would Add
Alaska to Washington,
Hawaii to California
WASHINGTON, l/fl—A Califor
nia congressman yesterday pro
posed this solution to the state
hood dispute: make Hawaii part
of California and Alaska part of
the State of Washington.
“The proposal is bound to mud
dy up even more the already con
fused and complicated statehood
argument,” Hep. Hosmer (R-Callf)
said in announcing he would in
troduce a bill today to carry this
out.
However, the second-term mem
ber declared, his solution is worth
studying because neither Hawaii
nor Alaska has produced “a clear
and convincing argument for
statehood” while each has shown
that “territorial status is not to
their advantage.”
Hosmer said in a statement that
no one he has talked with about
the bill has been enthusiastic
about it—“everyone seems to
have taken sides violently for or
against statehood.” Evert Califor
nians are probably opposed to an
nexing Hawaii, he said.
• “Strong opposition will come
from Texafe,” Hosmer added, “be
cause the measure would allow
California and Washington to be
come bigger than the Lone Star
State.”
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