m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIV No. 153 NOME. ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1952 Per Copy—151
Christian World
Prepares To
Celebrate Xmas
(By thf. Associated Press)
Christians turned from the
cares and sorrows of a troubled,
strife-wracked world Wednesday
to begin the happy yet solemn
Christmas ceremonies.
Churches throughout Christen
dom threw open their doors to
welcome all to traditional Christ
mas Eve ceremonies.
Hundreds of pilgrims have ar
rived in the Holy Land to wor
ship at the shrines connected with
the birth of Christ as in past
Christmas times. The heavy bor
der guards between Jordan and
Israel—still technically at war—
will step aside to permit passage
to the holy places.
President Truman delivered
his last official Christmas mes
sage to the nation.
Other chiefs of state and rulers
prepared special messages. Queen
Elizabeth II will broadcast hers—
her first as Britain’s monarch—
to the worldwide British Com
monwealth and empire Thursday.
As Americans at home rushed
their last preparations for the
season, their thoughts went out to
the thousands of fighting men
spending Christmas in troubled
spots around the world—Korea,
Germany, Austria, Japan and
other lands threatened by tyr
anny.
All these, however, will have
their celebrations, too. There will
be packages from home and spe
cial Christmas dinners. And Am
erican troops the world over have
chipped in to buy toys and food
for needy children in lands that
are their temporary homes.
In his Chritmas Eve message
to the world Pope Pius XII said
both East and West must look hot
to mechanized society but to
Christ for salvation.
The Pope’s Christmas message
drew a picture of poverty and
desolation in a world plagued
first by a real war and then a
cold war. He said such scenes
filled the heart with “a sadness
unto death.”
Without naming them, he de
scribed Communist-led countries
as “vast regions where souls and
bodies are made to be beneath
the weight of absolute power”
and where the church is the first
to suffer most keenly.
Lone Coast Guardsman
Lost at Sea in SE Alaska
JUNEAU, (A*) — Search for a
lone Coast Guardsman who was
swept to the sea in a 14-foot boat
was called off at dark Tuesday
after an all-day hunt over the
rough, wind-swept coastal waters
of Southeastern Alaska.
Searchers said the man, whose
identity has not been revealed,
could not have survived Monday
night’s freezing temperature and
50 mile winds.
The enlisted man was swept to
sea when a surge caught his craft
and pulled it into the current just
after he shut off the skiff motor.
He was from the Cape Spencer
lighthouse.
Truman Asks Americans
To Pray For Enemies That
They May See The ‘Light’
WASHINGTON, '(/Pi—President
Truman asked the American peo
ple in a Christmas message Wed
nesday to be steadfast with pa
tience and fortitude in the strug
gle for universal peace—and to
“pray for our enemies.”
“As we pray for our loved ones
far from home—as we pray for
our men and women in Korea,
and our servicemen and women
wherever they are — let us also
pray for our enemies,” he said.
“Let us pray that the spirit of
God shall enter their lives and
prevail in their lands. Let us pray
for a fulfillmment of the brother
hood of man.”
Truman’s message was a brief
address prepared for broadcast
ing before he threw a switch to
set the National Christmas Tree,
a 35-foot Norway spruce, ablaze
with light on the lawn of the
White House.
—
x\Iarine Sergeant
Killed After
Bombing Tavern
NEW YORK, (IP) — A Marine
sergeant hurled a phosphorus gre
nade — and an uncomplimentary
remark — Tuesday into a bar
! crowded with Puetro Ricans.
Fourteen persons were hurt and
police shot the Marine dead in a
wild sequence of events.
Police said the sergeant, James
Eugene McDermott, 19, accom
panied by a sailor and an airman,
rolled the grenade like a bowling
ball into the Royal Flush Tavern
and shouted:
“I’ll show these spies some
thing.”
(“Spic” is a derogatory term
used to describe Spanish Ameri
cans).
The explosion blew out win
dows of the tavern in Manhat
tan’s Harlem area — populated
largely by Negroes and Puerto
Ricans—and threw the neighbor
hood into an uproar.
Police chased McDermott nine
blocks. Patrolman Vincent Beck
els shot him through the head
after McDermott turned and
knifed him, police said.
Police apprehended both com
panions. They said Mark Sutter,
19, who was on holiday leave
from Wolters Air Force base,
Texas, surrendered during the
chase. Patrick Shanahan, 19, the
sailor, escaped, went to a church
to pray, and later surrendered.
Police said McDermott and Sut
ter were in civilian clothes and
that Shanahan was wearing his
Navy uniform.
Truman Restores Civil Rights
To Federal Convicts Who Served
Honorably in Armed Forces
WASHINGTON, UP)—President
Truman Wednesday restored full
civil rights to all convicted fed
eral law violators who completed
their prison terms and then
served honorably in the armed
services for a year or more since
the outbreak ctf the Korean war.
His Christmas Eve action was
by proclamation. In a second
order, he restored civil rights to
some peacetime deserters from
the armed services. '
Inquiry Fails To
Show Cause of
Moses Lake Crash
MOSES LAKE, Wash., {/P)—As
the death list in Saturday’s C-124
crash here rose to 87 today, the
Air Force announced that a pre
liminary inquiry had failed to
disclose the cause of history’s
worst aviation disaster.
The Air Force announcement,
made in Washington, also' said the
preliminary probe at the scene
failed to show any reason why
an order for grounding the big
C-124 Globemaster transports
should be issued.
There has been such a sugges
tion from at least one congres
sional critic of the series of re
cent military transport crashes in
the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and
Korea.
The 87th man to die, and the
only injured man to succumb
since the day of the crash, was
the only member of the 12-nvan
crew who came out of the crash
alive.
He was Master Sgt. Wendell L.
Burton of Temple, Okla. He was
the engineer aboard the big trans
port.
Before he lapsed into uncon
sciousness after the crash, Burton
had told officers at the scene that
the C-124’s instruments indicated
the plane’s operation was normal
in the takeoff.
A report made to the Pentagon
said all regular maintenance
checks had been made before the
accident. It had been test-flown
the day before the accident. Wea
ther conditions, too, were given as
O.K. There was a light snow at
the time.
Meanwhile, the grim task of
identifying other burned victims
of the crash continued. Much of
the checking had to be done
through dental records. •
The number of names of identi
fied dead released stood at 55.
Chaplin Pelted With
Garbage at Italian
Premiere of “Limelight”
ROME, Italy, \JP) — Police held
four Italian pro-Fascists Tuesday
under charges of hurling rotten
fruit and vegetables at Charlie
Chaplin at the gala society pre
mier here of his movie “Lime
light.”
Chaplin was bombarded Mon
day night by four members of the
pro-Fascist Italian Social Move
ment as the rest of a crowd of
about 100 cheered him on his
arrival at the movie hall.
The white-haired actor smiled
and waved as he stepped out of
his car in front of the brilliantly
lighted theater. But aged apples,
oranges, broccoli, and cabbages
flew at him amid the cheers and
applause.
Chaplin was struck several
times but continued to smile and
walked on into the theater. Some
of the two-score policemen sta
tioned about to keep order grab
bed the four accused of the bar
rage and hurried them off to cen
tral police headquarters.
Chaplin’s wife, the former
Oona O’Neill, arrived after her
husband and missed the garbage
shower.
j Communists Let Up Firing
! To Allow U.N. Troops
; To Celebrate Christmas
SEOUL, Thursday, (/P) — The
I 31st month of the Korean war
began quietly with the Commun
ists promising by loudspeaker to
let up on their firing on one sec
tor and delivering presents on an
other.
On the central front, near
Sniper Ridge where the fighting
was bitter last month, Chinese
loudspeakers broadcast to Allied
troops:
“We will cease fire from 8 in
the morning to noon in observ
ance of your Christmas.”
Another division on the central
front found toys, candies, dolls
and banners wishing a Merry
Christmas in front of its posi
tions. Loudspeakers in the Red
lines played “Silent Night.”
This was in strange contrast to
the day before, when the fight
ing had flared both in the air
and on the ground.
FBI Ordered Into
Probe of Rackets
On NY Waterfront
WASHINGTON, (£>)—'The FBI
has been ordered by Atty. Gen.
McGranery to move into the in
vestigation of the New York
waterfront, pictured in sworn
testimony before g state crime
commission as the focus of gang
ster terrorism.
Witnesses before the New York
State comrhlssiGn, at sensational
hearings now in recess, have de
scribed the waterfront as the lo
cale of widespread bribery, ex
tortion, shakedowns and strong
arm tactics.
“The Department of Justice,”
he said, “which has been watch
ing the I)Iew York waterfront
situation for months, now has
sufficient evidence of federal law
violations to warrant a full-scale
investigation.”
McGranery did not go into' de
tails in his statement, and Justice
Department officials declined to
elaborate on his reference to evi
dence of federal law violations, or
to identify statutes under which
federal action might be taken.
Flying Bishop, Enroute To
Alaska From Japan, Will
Celebrate Xmas Twice
SEATTLE, (JP)—A flying bish
op, on an around-the-world peace
mission, will celebrate Christmas
twice enroute from Tokyo to An
chorage, Northwest Airlines said
Monday night.
Bishop Homer A. Tomlinson,
60, general overseer of the Church
of God, is scheduled to take off
from Tokyo Christmas day, Japan
time, and arrive in Anchorage on
Christmas, Alaska time. He plans
to remain in Alaska until Dec. 29,
when he will fly to Seattle.
The NWA plane eastbound
from the Orient crosses the In
ternational Dateline, losing a day
in the process and accounting for
the double holiday.
Bishop Tomlinson, of New
York, left his home Dec. 5 on his
global trip. He was a candidate
for president in the last election
on the Church of God Bible Party
ticket.
I Screening Of
Alaska Travelers
Begins Today
SEATTLE, (/P) — Immigration
inspectors began sifting all per
sons arriving in the United States
from Alaska Wednesday, giving
them the same queries as persons
entering this country from Can
ada.
The new McCarrari-Walter Im
migration Act, which became ef
fective at 9:01 p.m. Tuesday, af
fects persons arriving anywhere
in the U.S. from other countries
or parts of the world. It is also
the first official restriction on
travel to the United States from
Alaska since the territory was
settled.
John P. Boyd, Immigration Ser
vice director, explained the sim
ilarity of inspections for arrivals
from Alaska with those long in
effect for persons coming across
the border from Canada,
“Citizens of the United States,
entering the continental United
States from Alaska, are not re
quired to present passports or
other documentary evidence of
citizenship,” he said.
“However, it will facilitate the
inspection of such persons if they
are in possession of birth certifi
cates, naturalization certificates,
I voters’ registration certificates or
such other prima facie evidence
of citizenship as may be avail
able.”
The law is aimed to screen new
arrivals and learn what ones are
aliens so that some aliens listed
as “undesirable” may be stopped
i at the country’s borders, Boyd
said. When such ones are found
and the cause of exclusion should
have been determined by the
transportation company — either
ships or aircraft — before tickets
were sold, be added, the trans
portation company will be com
pelled to pay the cost of their
return to their point or port of
take-off.
He said it seems difficult to
visualize any such cases among
arrivals from Alaska and antici
pates few exclusions.
Certain aliens, including known
Communists, will not be allowed
to enter this country nor will
other aliens who are drug addicts,
alcoholics or known to be men
tally or morally deficient, Boyd
explained.
The law also provides a pen
alty, for the first time, against
foreign seamen who jump ship at
a U.S. port with intentions to
remain in the U.S. illegally and
also against ship captains who
allow such practices.
McKay Denies Report He
Will Support Hickel For
Governor of Alaska
SALEM, Ore., (JP) — Secretary
of the Interior-designate Douglas
McKay denied a report that he
had promised backers of Walter
Hickel, Anchorage builder, that
he would support Hickel for gov
ernor.
“I haven’t made any commit
ments to anybody and I haven’t
any idea whom I’ll recommend,”
McKay said.