T
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 122 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1954 Per Copy—15^
Hurricane Hazel
Kills 57 Persons
In Toronto Area
TORONTO, UP)—Disaster work
ers renewed their hunt today thru
crushed homes and water-filled
cellars for victims of the last
lethal blow of Hurricane Hazel,
known to have killed 57 persons
in Canada. Thirty-six were miss
ing.
The death toll for the hurricane
in Canada and the United States,
with 98 fatalities, rose to 155.
At the same time, as confusion
cleared in the flood-stricken Hum
ber River valley, 28 persons list
ed as missing were found safe.
Estimates of the damage from
the flood in the Toronto area run
as high as 100 million dollars.
Hurricane Hazel, the worst
storm in Ontario’s history struck
this area Friday night. Stirred in
the Caribbean, it earlier lashed
Haiti and then cut a wide swath
across the Carolinas and the east
ern United States.
Most of the deaths in Canada
occurred along the Humber Riv
er which flows along Toronto’s
western outskirts into Lake On
tario. More than 7 inches of rain
Friday night turned the river into
a raging torrent that trapped vic
tims in homes and automobiles.
I
Railroad Car of Propane
Gas Explodes At Portland,
Demolishing 12 Other Cars
PORTLAND, Ore., (/PI—Propane
gas from a railroad car exploded
shortly before dawn today, threat
ening for a time huge oil storage
tanks and demolishing some two
dozen freight cars.
No one was reported killed or
injured seriously.
The blast hurled flaming debris
over a wide area in the freight
train yard and around the tanks,
located in an industrial area about
four miles northwest of the down
town business district.
Officials at the scene said a
conservative estimate of the loss
was between $300,000 and $500,
000. That did not include damage
to homes and businesses within 3
miles of the blast, which was felt
as far away as Battle Ground,
Wash., some 30 miles to- the N.E.
HURRICANE HAZEL TAKES
$100 THROUGH WINDOW
RICHMOND, Va., UP) — R. L.
Pierce was counting receipts at
his service station Friday when
Hurricane Hazel swirled in thru
a window and whisked away
more than $100 in currency.
Yesterday he got almost half
the money back.
Mrs. J.H. Hessley, who lives a
block away, brought in a $50 bill
she had found in her back yard.
It was part of the cash that had
gone with the wind.
PRIME MINISTER NEHRU
TALKS WITH HO CHI MINH
ENROUTE TO RED CHINA
HANOI, Viet Nam, UP) — Prime
Minister Nehru of India and Viet
minh president Ho Chi Minh dis
cussed the Indochina situation
here last night, shortly after
Nehru’s arrival for an 18 - hour
stopover while enroute to Peiping,
capital of Communist China.
Reshuffle of Churchill’s
Cabinet Brings In Seven
New Members Today
LONDON, (7P1—A wholesale re
shuffle of the British Conserva
tive government brought seven
new members into Prime Minister
Churchill’s cabinet today.
A total of 17 other ministerial
posts changed hands in a big
shakeup read by most political
observers as a sign Churchill’s
retirement is not in the cards at
this time although he will be 80
on Nov. 30.
The most significant in this con
nection was attached to the ap
pointment of Housing Minister
Harold MacMillan to succeed re
tiring Earl Alexander as Minister
of Defense.
MacMillan, a 60-year-old book
publisher, has been considered a
likely successor to Anthony Eden
in the post of foreign secretary if
and when the heir apparent to the
aged Churchill steps up into the
premiership.
World Airlines Agree
To Hold The lline In
Most Passenger Fares
VENICE, Italy, UP)—'The world’s
airlines agreed after an under
cover battle-, last night to hold
the line in passenger fares over
most of the globe, but to raise
fares slightly in Europe.
The action was taken by repre
sentatives of 71 airlines attending
the International Air Transport
Assn, traffic conferences.
A spokesman said member air
lines will do' more than 2 bil
lion dollars worth of business in
110 world currencies next year
under resolutions adopted by the
conference. If interested govern
ments agree, the new agreements
will go into effect next April 1.
Fares over the North Pole were
included in the agreements for
the first time. In view of a new
service over that route being in
troduced by Scandinavian Air
lines, rates were agreed to be
tween the west coast of North
America and • Copenhagen, via
Canada and Greenland. A spokes
man said the shorter route will
cut fares to certain Scandinavian
points by about $18.
Driver Brings In Bus
After Being Knifed
By Berserk Passenger
WELLS, Nev., UPl—A Salt Lake
City bus driver brought his Grey
hound bus safely into Wells last
night although bleeding from a
knife wound in the side. ’
The driver, D. H. Stump, told
authorities here that he was stab
bed by an elderly passenger who
apparently went berserk when he
told the man he couldn’t leave
the bus on lonely Pequop Summit,
20 miles east of Wells on U.S.
Highway 40.
Stump said the passenger
whipped out a knife, slashed an
unidentified passenger on the
hand who attempted to intervene,
and then stabbed Stump in the
side. In the turmoil that followed,
Stump said, the man escaped.
Stump and the unidentified
passenger were taken on to Elko
for medical treatment. Neither
was said to be seriously hurt.
Flying Farmer
Prepares For
Visit To Russia
KEY WEST, Fla., UPI—Delbert
A. Fuhriman, the Utah flying
farmer, was on his way home via
Washington today after a record
flight for light planes and hopes
next year to make an aerial jaunt
over Russia.
Such a trip would be made as
a flying tourist and he plans to
ask the Russian embassy in Wash
ington to help him plan it. He
would ship the plane overseas and
begin the flight in Europe.
The plane he bought second
hand ran perfectly on the record
2,300 - mile non - stop flight from
Vancouver Island, B.C., to Key
West, where he landed Saturday
after 24 hours and 25 minutes
aloft.
“I have no doubt it would do
the same on a transatlantic flight,
but I am mainly interested in see
ing as much of the world as I
can,” 'he commented. “Ocean
water is too much alike to afford
any pleasure to a sightseer.”
He had 30 gallons of gasoline
left when he landed here Satur
day and could have gone on to
Cuba, but had no maps of the
island and decided against land
ing there.
Last Of Oldtime Political
Bosses, E. H. Crump,
Dies In Memphis
MEMPHIS, Term., (/Pi—A grave
was readied for E. H. (Boss)
Crump today while a steady
trickle of the sad and curious
filed past his bier.
Crump, last and most colorful
of the nation’s oldtime big city
political bosses, died Saturday at
the age of 80. He had controlled
Memphis nearly 50 years.
Crump, famed as the nation’s
strongest political boss, kept a
tight grip on the Memphis-Shelby
Cbunty Democratic “machine”
he created.
The organization, until 1948,
controlled state politics 20 years.
But in the ’48 primary, Crump’s
candidates lost to Estes Kefauver
in the Senate race and Gordon
Browning in the governor’s scram
ble.
Leadership of the still potent
“Shelby County Crowd” was up
foT grabs since Crump, a wealthy
insurance and real estate dealer,
left no political heir apparent.
Beards, Costumes and
Pageants for Alaska Day
Celebration in Sitka
SITKA, l/P) — Sitka, where the
United States formally took over
newly-purchased Alaska from the
Russians in 1867, will celebrate
Alaska Day on Sunday and Mon
day.
Residents will don the costumes
of 87 years ago, and a kangaroo
court will penalize all persons not
dressed in this garb. Beardless
males also will be hauled before
the court.
The premiere of the symphonic
drama “In This Place” is sched
uled Monday night, commemorat
ing the transfer of the territory.
ri: s will be awarded for best
be and costumes.
Two GO? Candidates In Utah And
New Jersey Reveal Dramatic Personal
Stories Which May Affect Careers
<
5-Year-Old Girl Walks
20 Miles In 20 Hours
Thru Washington Wilds
OKANOGAN, Wash., W — A
hardy 5-year-old girl who sher
iff’s officers said walked 20 miles
in 20 hours through the wilds of
north central Washington wan
dered safely into a ranch yard 50
miles north of here yesterday as
an army of men sought for a trace
of her.
The first words of little Joyce
Abel as she entered the yard of
Mr. and Mrs. Guy Wagner were:
“Was mommy worried?’’
The Wagner ranch is 20 miles
southwest of the home of Joyce’s
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Darrell
Abel, from which she wandered
Saturday while playing.
As hopes dimmed yesterday
that Joyce survived that freezing
night she walked, tired but un
harmed, into the Wagner’s yard
and told of traveling downhill
through the darkness across rock
studded fields and grassy plains.
After Joyce was re-united with
her parents a family friend said
“she’s not as tired as most of
the searchers; she was dressed in
fresh clothes by 10 a.m. and ready
to start playing again.”
Texan Real Estate Man
Trying To Lease 100,000
Acres In Alaska
ODESSA Tex., W) — Alden B.
Rogers, Odessa real estate man,
said Saturday he and four others
were trying to lease a hundred
thousand acres between Fair
banks and Anchorage for oil ex
ploration.
Rogers said the deal, at this
stage, was “very indefinite” and
he would not release any de
tails.
He did say there is one wildcat
oil well being drilled now a con
siderable distance from the acre
age he and his associates are try
ing to lease. He said there were
only three oil drilling rigs operat
ing in all of Alaska.
Rogers would not say with
whom he was associated in the
lease effort.
Army Sets Up New
Command To Handle
U.S. Ground Defense
WASHINGTON, UPl — A new
Army command is being set up to
handle “the ground defenses of
the United States.”
The Army announcing the move
Saturday night, said the command
would be headed by Gen. John E.
Dahlquist, chief of Army Field
Forces. Command headquarters
will be at Ft. Monroe, Va., where
the field forces are also head
quartered.
While the Army announcement
made no reference to the matter,
the ground command appears to
be related to the Defense Depart
ment action last summer in creat
ing a joint Air-Army-Navy com
mand for the country’s defense
against air attack or invasion.
► (By the Associated Press)
Voters and party leaders in two
states today were assessing dra
matic personal accounts by two
Republican candidates of inci
dents that may weigh heavily on
their political careers.
The candidates are Rep. Doug
las R. Stringfellow, who is seek
ing a second term in Utah, and
former Rep. Clifford Case, the
GOP Senate nominee in New Jer
sey.
Utah Republican leaders meet
today to decide whether to scrap
the candidacy of Stringfellow, a
disabled veteran who tearfully
admitted Saturday he had invent
ed an oft-told account of his war
experiences.
A decision for or against Case
will be left to the voters Nov. 2.
Case last night declared that the
Adelaide Case linked in published
reports to alleged Communist
front groups is not his sister, who
he defended as “a loyal Ameri
can.”
Both Stringfellow and Case pre
sented their accounts in televised
talks to the voters of their areas.
Their appearances highlighted
weekend campaign activity, which
saw former President Truman
take the stump far the Democrats.
Truman, still recuperating from
serious surgery last summer, told
a Kansas City audience Saturday
night that GOP foreign policy has
piled “blunder on blunder,” threat
ening “our own security and the
peace of the world.”
GOP National Chairman Leon
ard W. Hall told party leaders at
Jefferson City, Mo., that Tru
man’s “memory is certainly short.”
He said Truman surely must re
member that during his adminis
tration “some six hundred million
free people were put behind the
iron curtain.”
Sringfellow, who walks with a
cane and braces as a result of a
wartime land mine explosion,
branded as a hoax his story of
being a behind-the-lines cloak
and dagger operative.
The Utah Congressman’s story,
dramatized several times by na
tional television networks and re
cently purchased as movie mater
ial, was questioned Thursday in
Washington by the Army Times,
an unofficial service publication.
Stringfellow at first termed the
Army Times story a political at
tack and asked President Eisen
hower to open secret files which
he said would show he played a
harrowing wartime role with the
OSS.
Then Saturday night, he re
(Continued cm Page Two)
SOVIET LAND RETURN
BRANDED AS PROPAGANDA
TAIPEH, Formosa, UP)—The re
turn of Port Arthur by Russia to
Red China was largely for the
effect on Japan, a high National
ist Chinese official said today.
Shen Chang Huan said the move
has no real meaning, since chang
ing conditions have wiped out Port
Arthur’s strategic importance.