m NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVIII No. 12 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1956_Per Copy—15<f
H. L. Mencken,
Author, Critic,
Dies at 75 Years
BALTIMORE, —Doubting H.
L. Mencken, whose needle-sharp
pen pricked at civilization for
nearly half a century, is dead.
And how—as he once literally in
quired—shall they stage his “in
escapable last act?”
“The Sage of Baltimore” news
man author, wit, critic, died qui
etly in his sleep early Sunday.
He was 75 years old.
A doctor said a blood clot prob
ably ended Mencken’s life.
His brother, August, said fu
neral services will be private.
Mencken once wrote: “One of
the crying needs of the time in
this incomparable republic is for
a suitable burial service for the
admittedly damned . . .
“What is needed, and what I
bawl for politely, is a service that
is free from the pious but unsup
ported asseverations that revolt
so many of our best minds, and
yet remains happily graceful and
consoling . . .
“A suitable funeral for doubt
ers, full of lovely poetry, but de
void of any specific pronounce
ment on the subject of a future
life . . .
“Such a libretto for the ines
capable last act would be humane
and valuable. I renew my sugges
tion that the poets spit upon their
hands and confect it at once.”
His views were given life in
two dozen books and thousands of
essays.
“The American Language,” a
scholarly investigation of the or
igins of our speech, is a monu
ment to his intellect. His three
“Days” books—“H a p p y Days,”
“Newspaper Days,” and “Heathen
Days”—exude his personal charm.
Baby Pronounced Dead
Revived at Hospital
After Freezing Ordeal
WASHINGTON, UP)—An infant
found in a frozen condition on a
doorstep yesterday was pro
nounced dead at General Hospital
—.but later gave out a few feeble
gasps and was revived.
The infant, a boy, had a tem
perature of 73 degrees and no de
tectable heartbeat when exam
ined at the hospital after being
found on a front porch in the
northeast section of "the city. Doc
tors estimated he was about five
weeks old.
Artificial respiration was con
tinued after the pronouncement
of death. When the feeble gasps
were noted, the baby was rushed
to the operating room where oxy
gen and adrenalin were adminis
tered. In two hours the baby’s
temperature had climbed to 96
degrees, only 2.6 below normal.
It was 100 this morning.
Authorities had no clues to the
infant’s identity.
Accidental Electrocution
LOS ANGELES, UP>—Hector
Corral, 21, was accidentally elec
trocuted as he dried cut flowers
with an electric fan.
His brother, 25, told sheriff’s
deputies he heard Hector scream
and found him in a shed next to
the house with the fan on his
stomach. He was dead on arrival
at a hospital.
Composer Lew Porter
Dead at 63
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.,
UP)—Lew Porter, 63, who wrote
“Beautiful Ohio,” By the Sea”
and many other songs, died of a
heart attack yesterday.
His real name was Lewis John
Tableporter, but he used the
shorter name professionally.
Tennessee Plan Favored Unanimously
At Convention; Most Delegates Agree
On Nominations at Party Conventions
By FLORENCE DOUTHIT
FAIRBANKS, MV-The Consti
tutional Convention went on rec
ord unanimously yesterday as fa
voring the so-called “Tennessee
Plan” to send Alaska congressmen
to the nation’s capital seeking
statehood from Congress.
The vote, taken during a five
hour session, was 53-0.
It came before the convention
when George McLaughlin of An
chorage moved to delete a section
from the ordinance article which
contained the meat of the Tennes
see Plan.
The article was on second read
ing when McLaughlin, declaring
he was “in a hurry to find out
which way the wind blew,” of
fered his motion. And delegates
admitted they were surprised to
find there was not one dissenting
breeze.
The Ordinance Committee re
port, still in the simple majority
amendatory stage, provides that
this question shall be put to Al
aska voters when they decide on
ratification of the constitution:
“Shall Ordinance No. 11 <Ten
nest»'e Plan) set forth in the pro
posed Constitution for the State
of Alaska, calling for the immedi
ate election of two United States
senators and one United States
representative, be adopted?”
There was no floor debate on
merits or demerits of the Tennes
see Plan.
Feverish debate echoed through
the hall, however, regarding the
method of nomination of the three
congressional representatives.
The committee’s ordinance pro
vided for nomination both by pri
mary election and political party
convention.
But after more than an hour of
discussion, delegates voted 39-14
to delete the provision for the
primary.
Arguments that led to the dele
tion included:
To be effective, the plan should
be put into effect right away. The
filing date for primary candidates
and independents closes Feb. 1.
To get around this, the Ordinance
Committee changed the date to
Feb. 20, but could offer no guar
antee this would not be ques
tioned in the courts. Certification
(Continued on Page Two)
All A.N.G. Men Found Alive
-q
Russian Speed Skaters
Break World's Record
At Olympic Games
CORTIN D’AMPREZZO, Italy,
Iff!—The powerful Russians con
tinued their cascade of gold med
als today when two young speed
skaters, Yury Mikhailov and Eu
geniy Gi’ishin, tied for the 1500
meter (metric mile> championship
in the identical world record
breaking time of 2 minutes, 8.6
seconds.
The sensational race on the
mile-high track overshadowed the
other developments of the winter
Olympics games’ fourth day. Am
erica’s Tenley Albright gained a
substantial lead in women’s figure
skating and Norway and Switzer
land crashed through to their first
championships.
The U.S. hockey team won its
first match of the six-team final
round robin by crushing Germany
7-2. The Yanks play favored Can
ada tomorrow.
William Judd Crosses
Atlantic in Small Plane; * i
Stops at Paris, Not Cairo
PARIS, UP)—William F. Judd
landed his single-engine plane
near here today, beaten by icing
conditions and fatigue in his at
tempt to fly nonstop from White
Plains, N.Y., to Cairo, Egypt.
Judd, 40-year-old Trans World
Airlines pilot, brought his 230
horsepower, Cessna 180 in for a
smopth landing at 2:48 p.m. at
Toussus-le-Noble Airfield south
west of Paris. He had been in the
air 24 hours, 11 minutes.
Dead tired, he was greeted by
his wife, Collette, and their 3Vf>
year-old son, Alan Patrick.
“I ran into six hours of ice be
tween New Yoi'k and Gander and
I had another six hours of instru
ment flying in bad weather off
the coast of Europe.” Judd said.
“Every pilot has to know his
own limitations,” he added in ex
plaining why he cut short his
flight.
lie had reported earlier that he
expected to reach Rome about
6:30 p.m. (EST> and he would de
cide then whether to land for re
fueling or push on to Cairo.
Then flying over southern Ire
land he radioed his plane at up so
much fuel battling icing condi
tions that he was forced to give
up the Cairo attempt.
Judd has flown the Atlantic
120 times as a pilot for TWA.
Crooner Nurses Cut
From Shower of Coins
At Polio Benefit Show
BURBANK, Calif. UJV-Crooner
Eddie Fisher nursed a slight cut
on his nose today after being lit
erally showered with coins during
a polio fund benefit show Satur
day.
Fisher and his wife, actress
Debbie Reynolds, were among the
celebrities appearing at the pro
gram at the Olive Recreation Cen
ter. The program chairman or
dered the 2,000 young people in
the audience to stop tossing coins
after Fisher was struck by one.
The Alaska National Guard
plane, which has been overdue
since Friday, was located at noon
today about 15 miles north of
Nome. The plane was found by
pilot Don Bruckner with Jim
Walsh as observer.
Shortly afterwards Rev. Bruck
ner, flying the Covenant Mission
plane, landed at the scene and
picked up Sgt. Richard August
and brought him to town. He was
rushed to the hospital and is re
ported badly frozen and suffer
ing from exposure.
At two o’clock Rev. Bruckner
brought in Major Slegwart, who
was immediately hospitalized.
Rescuers have been parachuted
to the side of the hill where the
plane is located.
Gen. Noyes and Maj. Kolb are
reported in serious condition and
will not be moved until a doctor
is flown to the scene to supervise
moving them.
The rescue operation is now
under the direction of Capt. Louis
Wells of Search and Rescue.
Bush planes and military air
craft have combed Seward Pen
insula for the AN.G. plane which
disappeared Friday afternoon in
the storm then blowing, while en
route here from Shishmaref.
Aboard the A.N.G Beaver were
Gen John Noyes, adjutant gen
eral of the Alaska National Guard
who is on an inspection of units
of the 1st Scout Battalion; Major
Frances Siegwart, local A.N.G.
commander; Maj. Robert Kolb,
pilot of the plane, and Sgt. Rich
ard August, of the Nome A.N.G.
detachment.
The plane was equipped with
regular emergency rations and
supplies and also carried three
sleeping bags.
Search planes began flying as
soon as it was light Saturday
morning and continued through
today.
Assisting in the search were:
Martin Olson, Rev. Don Bruck
ner, Howard Mays, Dr. M. Ken
nedy, Willie Foster, Bob Jacobs,
Fred Kraum, all of Nome; Rev.
Norval Hegland of Teller; Tommy
Richards, Wien pilot at Kotzebue;
and also military aircraft.
These included two SA16s (Al
batross) a C54 of the Air Force,
and three A.N.G. planes, an L.19,
a C47, and an L20 from Bethel.
Col. W. Coleman, senior Army
advisor, who was originally be
lieved to have been on the plane,
arrived from Anchorage today
with Lt. Col. Bjorn Holta, inspec
tor general of the A.N.G.
All three of the 1st Scout Bat
talion officers have families here.
Mrs. Kolb and two children and
Mrs. August and two children
live in Nome and Mrs. Siegwart
and six children have quarters at
Nome Field.
Eisenhower Receives
Ben Hogan Trophy
For Physical Comeback
WASHINGTON, UP)—President
Eisenhower Saturday received the
Ben Hogan Trophy, awarded an
nually to the golfer making the
greatest comeback from a physi
cal disability.
The trophy is a statuette of Ho
gan, a champion golfer who made
a dramatic comeback himself af
ter being seriously injured in an
auto accident. The presentation
to Eisenhower was made by Rep.
Westland (R-Wash), a former na
tional amateur golf champion.
Radioactive Snow Falls
TOKRO, UP)—Radioactive snow
fell on Matsuya City on the south
west coast of Honshu Thursday
through Saturday, Kyodo News
Service reported.
No reason was given for the
radioactivity.
CAREER WOMEN WANTED
TORONTO, UP)—Toronto police
recently placed a recruiting post
er for policewomen on a sidewalk
bulletin board at headquarters.
It listed 13 duties expected of
the lady cops. The 11th duty read:
“Prostitution.”
Red-faced officials today ex
plained they meant investigation
and policing of prositution.
Early Hearings Promised on Alaska
Mental Health Bill by Senate Croup
WASHINGTON WV—Early hear
ings were promised today by the
chairman of the Senate Territor
ies subcommittee on a House
passed bill to modernize Alaska’s
mental health program.
Sen. Jackson (D-Wash) said he
plans to hold hearings in Febru
ary with a view to completing
committee action “so the Senate
will have ample time to consider
it.”
He said hearings had been
asked by Sen. Neuberger (D-Ore>,
who has introduced legislation
similar to that passed by the
House. The Senate committee al
ready has taken some testimony
on the subject. Jackson said he
felt there would be no deed for
extensive hearings before the
committee is prepared to act.
The bill approved by the House
does two things. It sets up modern
legal procedures for commitment
and hospitalization of the mental
ly ill, and it provides for trans
ferring administration of the pro
gram from the Department of In
terior to the territory.
A series of grants would be de
signed to help the territory shoul
der the financial burden. It would
authorize an appropriation of $6Vfe
million for construction of hospit
als and related facilities in Alaska
and another $6 million in dimin
ishing amounts over a 10-vear
period for care and treatment.
The bill also provides the ter
ritory be permitted to select a
million acres of public land from
which proceeds will go to the
treatment program.
Alaska’s mental patients are
now treated at government ex
pense in the Morningside Sani
torium at Portland, Ore. Commit
ment for care is possible only
after a court hearing