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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVIII No. 4 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1956_Per Copy—15^
Five Missionaries
Lost In Jungles
Of Ecuador
QUITO, Ecuador, — Planes
combed the Amazon jungle today
for five Protestant U.S. mission
aries believed seized by savage
Indians. Air Force reports of a
body lying near their plane’s
stripped skeleton aroused fear for
their lives.
A U.S. Army helicopter was dis
patched from the Ca'nal Zone to
day to take part in the hunt for
the men, missing in a remote
jungle region of northeastern Ec
uador. Planes from the Zone’s U.S.
Air Force Rescue Squadron also
joined in the growing search.
The five men flew their small
Piper plane into the bush area
last week to do mission work
among primitive tribesmen.
The Air Force joined the search
after another flying missionary,
John Keenan, made a reconnais
sance flight over the area and re
ported seeing the stripped Piper
Cub. He said he saw no sign of
the missionaries but spotted sev
eral Indian canoes heading down
the river.
Keenan made his investigation
after the mission party radioed it
had encountered a group of sav
age Auca Indians, then broke
radio contact.
Soon after the hunt began, a
Quito radio station relayed a mes
sage from a U.S. search plane that
it had sighted the Piper Cub —
stripped of its fabric—and along
side it a body pierced with an
Indian lance.
The Air Force emphasized that
this report made no identification
of the body, either as that of a
white man or an Indian.
Chinese Nationalists
Sabotaged Indian Airliner
Which Crashed Last April
LONDON, UP)—'The Colonial Of
fice announced today it had evi
dence Chinese Nationalists bribed
a cleaner at the Hong Kong air
port to time bomb the Indian
plane which crashed last year
with a party of Chinese Commun
ists bound for the Bandung Con
ference.
A Colonial Office statement said
the cleaner, Chow Tse Ming, stow
ed away to Formosa five weeks
after the crash. It explained Na
tionalist officials had refused re
peatedly to extradite him for trial
on a charge of conspiracy to mur
der.
The Air India plane collected
the Red party at Hong Kong April
11. It crashed in the South China
Sea after an explosion while ap
proaching Indonesia. Fifteen per
sons, including Chinese Red of
ficials and Communist newsmen,
were killed.
Holpoinl Founder Dies
SAN MARINO, Calif., UP> —
Death has claimed Franklin Booth
94, mining engineer, business ex
ecutive and one of the founders of
the Hotpoint electrical appliance
firm.
He died Monday night at his
home. Booth was born in England,
was graduated in 1887 from the
University of California and
worked as an engineer in Alaska.
Delegates Work
Nights As Paid Of
Convention Nears
FAIRBANKS, M — The Alaska
Constitutional Convention contin
ued at a stepped-up pace yester
day, holding another overtime
session that lasted well into the
evening.
With the deadline for drafting a
state constitution only 26 days
away, delegates said the night ses
sions probably would continue, at
least until major points are clear
ed from the calendar.
Delegates settled one issue—.the
pay scale of legislators of the fu
ture state—before adjourning yes
terday, but a six-hour debate pre
ceded final action.
Although the convention’s legis
lative committee had recommend
ed that legislators be paid an an
nual salary equal to one third of
that paid the governor, delegates
finally resolved to let the law
makers fix their own scale.
Several attempts to limit the
duration of legislative sessions
failed. Delegates supported the
committee’s request that the ses
sions be kept “open end” so that
vital matters will not be neglected
due to deadline pressure.
R. E. Robertson of Juneau tried
without success to provide in the
Constitution that the legislature
meet every two years instead of
annually, as recommended by the
committee.
“Yearly sessions create consid
erable turmoil and confuse the
public,” he said. “Also due to the
fact legislatures are prone to in
crease taxes, two years would give
the people a rest.”
The convention voted that “the
legislature shall convene on the
fourth Monday in January each
year, unless otherwise provided by
law.”
Churchill Given Franklin
Medal for International
Understanding Promotion
LONDON, (£1 — Sir Winston
Churchill today received the Ben
jamin Franklin award as the man
who has done most to promote
international understanding since
World War II.
Joseph S. Clark, Jr., former
mayor of Philadelphia, handed the
80-year-old former British prime
minister the gigantic silver medal
and a book of Franklin’s letters
to commemorate the award in a
modest ceremony at the home
Franklin occupied when he was
agent here for the American col
onies.
The award was made by the
City of Philadelphia to commem
orate the 250th anniversary of
Franklin’s birth Jan. 17.
It went to one man and one
woman.
“It will be a source of gratifica
tion to you, sir, that the com
panion medal . . . has been award
ed to Mrs. Franklin Delano Roose
| velt, wife of your companion in
sport and in arms in the days
when the storm gathered, fa.e
swpng on its hinge and freedom
triumphed,” Clark told Churchill.
The old statesman nodded his
1 head in agreement.
Workman Handles
Cylinder of Deadly
Radioactive Cohalt
MILFORD, Conn., UP -— The
jumping needle of a geiger count
er at a construction job gate
turned up a small cylinder of
deadly, radioactive cobalt today
in the possession of a bewildered
workman.
Benjamin Zowacki, 33-year-old
electrician, told a reporter he took
the cylinder late yesterday after
noon because he wanted the string
from which it was hanging.
The device, used in photograph
ing steel pipe, was in a paper bag
lying inside of a cloth cap in the
glove compartment of Zowacki’s
car.
Searchers with a geiger counter
had been checking all ears enter
ing and leaving tne site of a job
where the United Engineers Con
struction Co. is building a power
plant addition for the Connecticut
Light and Power Co.
When Zowacki’s car came thru
the gate, the search ended.
Zowacki said he was wholly
unaware radio and television sta
tions in this area had been broad
casting periodic warnings all
night, advising whoever had the
cylinder to dispose of it in a
vacant lot, notify police and re
port immediately to a hospital.
Before he was taken to a hes
pital Zowacki was asked why he
•took the cylinder.
“Well,” he said, “I was looking
for a piece of string, and I saw
this thing hanging there and I
took it.”
The cylinder, suspended by a
piece of asbestos string, had been
hung alongside a pipe which en
gineers wanted to photograph.
Zowacki said he left the cyl
inder in his car all night.
The construction job superin
tendent, said three other work
men who had been in Zowacki’s
car had been exposed to radio
activity. The harm suffered by
the four, if any, probably will
not show up for a matter of
weeks, he said.
American Opera Company
Plays To Overflow
Audience In Moscow
MOSCOW, (if)—The “Porgy and
Bess” company has added Moscow
to its long list of conquests.
An overflow audience wept,
cheered and applauded for BVi
minutes after the final curtain of
last night’s opening performance
in the Soviet capital.
The touring American Negro
company had won the same re
ception in a Leningrad engage
ment which began Dec. 26. They
will play six more nights in Mos
cow, the first American opera
presentation since before the 1917
Bolshevik revolution
Although most couldn’t under
stand the dialogue of the George
Gershwin-DuBose Heyward opera,
Gershwin’s music and the color
ful production were a smash hit.
As the lights went up at the end,
many of the audience had tear
stained faces.
Outside the Stanislavsky theater
thousands of onlookers overflowed
the sidewalks.
i ‘Wake Up’ to Soeial
I And Economic
Race with Russia
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower and Secretary of State
Dulles today called for the coun
try to “wake up” to the economic
and social contest with the Soviets
in which defeat would be “dis
astrous.”
The call was made in a state
ment which Dulles gave out at
a news conference after checking
it with President Eisenhower. He
said Eisenhower suggested its re
lease.
The statement was prepared by
the IDS. delegation to the recent
U.N. General Assembly. The dele
gation sent it to Dulles who re
viewed it with the President just
before Christmas.
Dulles said he was giving it
out today, at the President’s sug
gestion, because this was his first
news conference since the matter
came up.
Discussion made clear however,
he hopes the statement will help
swing public opinion behind the
administration’s foreign economic
aid request to Congress.
1955 Was Biggest Year
In History For U.S.
Commercial Aviation
LOS ANGELES, (£1—Last year
was the best commercial sales
year in aviation history.
During 1955 the big three manu
facturers—Douglas, Lockheed and
Boeing — received orders for 577
transports worth $1,841,250,000.
Lockheed Aircraft Corp. an
nounced yesterday that during
1955 it received orders from 17
airlines. The orders call for 177
planes, worth 335 million dollars.
This was four times the 1954 fig
ure, the company said.
One hundred and tour are high
speed, turboprop Electras. The re
mainder are Constellation trans
ports.
Douglas Aircraft Corp. has an
nounced orders for 328 ships from
31 airlines totaling $1,125,000,000.
Ninety-eight were DC-8 jets, the
remainder conventionally power
ed DC6s and DC7s, the company
said.
Boeing received orders for 72
commercial jets valued at $381,
250,000.
Propellor driven models are al
ready in production. Jets are for
delivery in two or three years.
New Ailment of L.A.
Motorists Diagnosed
As Freewayitis
LOS ANGELES, —A new ail
ment has been diagnosed for the
Los Angeles population—freeway
itis.
The police department says the
disease, common to motorists us
ing the extensive freeway system,
is a combination of nervous in
digestion and claustrophobia.
It’s likely to reach epidemic
proportions during peak traffic
hours at a point where the five
lane influx of two freeways, the
Santa Ana and San Bernardino,
narrows to three lanes.
Suggested remedy—get off the
freeway before reaching down
town sections.
$230,000 Allocated
Fairbanks-Nome
Road Next Summer
Dewey Goodrich reported to the
Chamber af Commerce on his first
meeting with the Board of Terri
torial Road Commissioners held
last week in Juneau.
Other members of his commit
'tee were A1 Seelinger of Fair
banks, Pete McCormick of the 1st
Division, Ken Sheppard of the 3rd
Division, and Irving Reed, chair
man.
He reported that $2,000,000 had
been allocated to Alaska roads,
with $230,000 being specifically
earmarked for the Nome-Fair
banks road, now designated as
Route 97 in the U.S. highway sys
tem. Money is pro-rated according
to tax money received for roads
from gas tax and other sources.
In addition to the above amount,
Goodrich explained that the 4th
Division has allowed the Second
Division $10,00 from its share, for
a ibridge at Penny River, and that
an additional $20,000 surplus is
left from the 1955 appropriation.
And $175,000 has been allocated
for the Livengood truck road,
which is also part of the Alaska
highway.
Harbor developments are also a
part of the functions of this board,
[ and $2,000 was allotted to the
Nome Harbor, courtesy of the 4th
Division, with $500 to come from
city sources.
- While in Juneau, Goodrich con
ferred with officials concerning
the new school addition and was
assured that the refrigerated foun
dation is still considered the solu
tion to permafrost construction
and that work would go ahead as
planned in the spring.
Inmate, of Home for Aged
Wins $32,000 on TV Show
NEW YORK, UP) — Mrs. Mabel
Morris, a 74 - year - old London
born widow who receives support
from the city welfare department,
came through with answers to a
complex question about Charles
Dickens last night to win $32,000
on a television quiz show.
She will get a chance to double
her money next week when she
returns to the CBS network pro
gram, "The $64,000 Question,” or
she may elect to stop with $32,000.
If she misses the next question
she will get a consolation prize
of an expensive car.
Mrs. Morris was asked to iden
tify where in Dickens works cer
tain events of his own life were
reflected.
A schoolteacher for many years,
Mrs. Morris now lives in a home
for aged and infirm Hebrews. She
has said she will use $7,000 of any
winnings to repay the city for
money it spent on her in the
past several years.
RECIPE FOR LONGEVITY
LOS ANGELES, UP) — Granny
Burks says she’s 100 years old
and just as ‘‘mean and orney as
ever.”
At her birthday party yester
day Granny, whose first name,
Virginia, is seldom used, gave her
recipe for long life:
Plenty of black-eyed peas, tur
, nip greens, salt pork, corn pone,
1 whiskey and snuff.”