m NOME NUGGET
_ . OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No. 125 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1953 Per Copy—15^
First American
POW Has Enough
Of Life Under Reds
PANMUNJOM, UP)—A corporal
from Virginia’s mountain coun
try—the first of 23 unrepatriated
' American war prisoners to quit
Communism—said Wednesday “I
had enough of life under the
Reds.”
Cpl. Edward S. Dickenson, a 25
year-old former farmer from Big
Stone Gap, Va., said it was “more
than likely” some of the other
Americans who spurned a chance
to return home would change
their minds.
“Communism is not my belief,”
he told a news conference. “I
have my own beliefs.”
Dickenson, whose parents live
in a remote cabin high in the
Allegheny Mountains, returned to
the Allies of his own free will.
Rushed to a hospital near Seoul,
he told newsmen he had contem
plated returning for a quite a
while.
The young soldier flatly refused
to answer questions that would
have shed light on why he or the
other Americans chose to remain
with the Reds.
“I can’t answpr that ... I
don’t know what they (the 22
others) want to do ... ”
Dickenson, appearing slightly
bewildered and choosing his
words carefully, asked after about
10 minutes that the interview be
halted. He said he had not been
briefed by Army officers before
meeting with newsmen . . . the
decision not to answer questions
was his own.
AFL Teamsters Warns
“Men May Be Killed” In
Cleanup N.Y. Waterfront
WASHINGTON, UP) — Dave
Beck, president of the AFL Team
sters Union, says that “men may
be killed” cleaning up the New
York waterfront.
Beck is one of fiive AFL officials
setting up a new longshoremen’s
union rivaling the one expelled
by the Federation on grounds of
failing to rid itself of racketeers.
He referred to the danger of
the job Tuesday in a talk to the
National Press Club.
Beck also said the influence of
labor unions with the Eisenhower
administration is weak in com
parison with that of business and
farmers, and that organized labor
may be “driven” into a political
party of its own if “the present
trend of conditions continues.”
Jordanians Demand British
Commander Arab Legion
Be Replaced By An Arab
AMMAN, Jordan, U’) — Demon
strators angered by recent border
clashes with Israel marched on
Premier Fawzi El Mulki’s office
Wednesday and demanded re
placement of the British com
mander of the Arab Legion by
an Arab. They also pulled down
notices on the door of the U.S.
financed Point Four office.
The Legion, considered the most
efficient fighting force in the Mid
dle East, is commanded by Brig.
Gen. John Baggot Glubb, the col
lorful Briton who organized and
trained it. Although British-fin
anced, it is Jordan’s army and
many of its officers are Jordan
ians.
Seattle and Portland Wage Tug of War
Over Question of “Common Rates” In
Anchorage CAB Certification Hearings
<•
Pressure Waves From
F-100 Breaking Sonic
Barrier Break Windows
PALMDALE, Calif., UP — The
airport’s plate glass windows, as
well as the sonic barrier, were
shattered during the first public
demonstration of the Air Force
F-100 Super Sabre fighter plane.
The successor to the F-84 Sabre
jet, which won fame in Korea,
traveled more than 12 miles a
minute Tuesday before an audi
ence of nearly 100 persons.
Test Pilot George Welch boom
ed through the atmosphere, and
the sound barrier, at a speed ex
ceeding 720 miles per hour in
North American Aviation’s new
sweptwing jet.
Pressure waves reverberated
with explosive force as Welch
pulled out of his supersonic dives.
A wooden upright, 4x4 inches,
was cracked and six big plate
glass windows flew apart in the
airport administration building.
In this community, four miles
from airport, the sonic explosions
rattled dishes as Welch put the
Super Sabre through four power
dives from 15,000 to 1,000 feet,
where he pulled out to streak
across the field about 100 feet
. above ground. His top speed was
not announced.
> AJMCHOKAGE, UP)—Seattle and
Portland delegations waged a tug
of war over the question of “com
mon rates” for air carriers oper
ating between the States and Al
aska terminals at the second day
of the Civil Aeronautics Board
air certification hearings here
Tuesday.
Representatives of the Seattle
Chamber of Commerce, Traffic
Assn., and Port Commission took
the stand and asked permanent
certificates for at least as many
inter-Alaska carriers as now exist.
They also asked that the Seattle
Tacoma area be designated as the
southern terminus.
Representatives of the Portland
Chamber of Commerce previously
had urged the CAB to grant a di
rect route between Portland and
Anchorage, terming it necessary
to the fast - developing Alaska
economy.
John Paul, Seattle Chamber and
Traffic Assn, delegate outlined
the history of Seattle - Alaska
trade relations. He said Seattle
has “specialized in Alaska trade.”
The city, he said, has “spent
thousands of dollars to develop
trade with Alaska and has de
signed special ways of delivering
goods to fit conditions.”
Don Wallace, of the Tacoma
(Continued on Page Two)
Feds Dissatisfied
With Handling Of
Cecil Wells Murder
FAIRBANKS, UP> — Mrs. Cecil
Wells has reported to police that
about $1,000 in cash and at least
one piece of valuable jewelry
were missing from the family
apartment after her prominent
husband was shot to death before
daylight last Saturday.
The 31-year-old widow made
the report after her release from
the hospital. She was hospitalized
for treatment after a beating
which she said was administered
by one of two men she found
in the apartment upon awakening
early in the morning.
The slain man was a prominent
automobile dealer and president
of the All - Alaska Chamber of
Commerce.
Mrs. Wells said a man in the
bedroom made for her sleeping
husband when she awakened, and
that she fled into the front room,
where she bumped into second
intruder.
Police Chief E. V. Danforth said
she told of being held, with a
gloved hand over her mouth, and
being warned: “Don’t shout or I’ll
kill you.”
She said she recalled being hit
on the head with a flower pot
and seeing the man pick up an
other, although she said she was
not conscious of being hit a sec
ond time. She received lacera
tions around the eyes and a badly
swollen lower face.
Chief Danforth said Mrs. Wells
was unable to give any accurate
information on the two men.
Meanwhile, there was dissatis
faction among federal officials at
the police handling of the case.
District Attorney Ted Stevens
said he was taking action to force
the police chief to give federal
officers a part in the investiga
tion.
Police Officials Question
Arresting Officer On
300 G’s of Kidnap Money
ST. LOUIS, (^—Police Lt. Louis
Shoulders, who arrested the kid
nap - killer of 6-year-old Bobby
Greenlease, Wednesday went be
fore a panel of high police of
ficials investigating circumstances
surrounding the arrest.
Just before Shoulders made his
delayed appearance at the inquiry
Police Chief O’Connell expressed
doubt the missing $300,000 in ran
som money ever was brought ter
St. Louis.
Shoulders was expected to be
questioned about reported dis
crepancies in his written account
of the arrest Oct. 6 and state
ments by others, including other
police who worked on the case.
He previously had said he
could “explain every move I made
to the proper authorities.” Earlier
Shoulders had been excused from
questioning because of what his
physician described as a nervous
condition.
Shoulders made the arrest on a
tip from taxi driver John Hager
that the man who later was to
confess killing the Greenlease boy
was on a spending spree.
Eisenhower Refuses Blame Agriculture
Secretary Benson For Recent Reverses
In Normally Republican Farm Areas
Two and a Half Tons of
TV Equipment \Enroute
To Anchorage’s KFVA
SEATTLE, UP) — Six boxes of
television station equipment
weighing 2Vi tons, was loaded
aboard the freighter Nadina today
for Station KFVA at Anchorage.
The station of the Northern
Television Co., headed by August
C. Hiebert, is expected to be in
operation by December.
Another Anchorage station,
KFIA, is currently sending test
patterns as the first TV station on
the air in Alaska.
Wm. Plummer Named
Third Division D. A.
WASHINGTON, (fl—'William T.
Plummer of Anchorage was ap
pointed by President Eisenhower
yesterday to be U.S. Attorney for
Division No. 3 of Alaska.
Plummer, who is now in busi
ness at Anchorage, is at native of
Mason City, Iowa, he is an Army
veteran of World War II, and a
former city attorney of North
Platte, Neb.
Reds In Treasury Supplied
Russia Plates of German
Occupation Currency
WASHINGTON, (A —Elizabeth
Bentley, wartime Communist spy
ring courier, testified Wednesday
that Communists working in the
U. S. government had orders to
help Russia get printing plates
to produce vast sums of German
occupation currency.
She named two former Trea
sury Department officials as hav
ing helped first to get pilfered
samples of the currency.
This was “no' doubt,” she said,
an unsuccessful counterfeiting
flot.
Then, Miss Bentley said, she
passed them orders to help get
the plates through official diplo
matic negotiations by “putting
the pressure on” Harry Dexter
White, then special assistant to
Secretary of the Treasury Henry
Morganthau. The plates were
given to the Russians in 1944.
Ludwig Ullman and Nathan
Gregory Silvermaster were the
men Miss Bentley named at a
public hearing by the Senate In
vestigations subcommittee.
Both were present but refused
to say whether her accusations
were true. They pleaded that
their answers might tend to in
criminate them.
THREE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS
LOST ON DEER HUNTING TRIP
PETERSBURG, (A — Wide
spread search was under way to
day for three 17-year-old high
school seniors who left Saturday
in a small boat on a deer hunt
ing trip.
They were Arden Hall, Leslie
Reid and Sam Kito. Their boat
was last zzzr. at Five-Mile Point
and a storm swept the area later
on. Fishing boats and Coast Guard
and chartered planes took part in
the search.
> WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower today voiced full con
fidence in Secretary of Agricul
ture Benson who has come under
fire from some Congress mem
bers.
Eisenhower also told a news
conference he believes the na
tion’s cattlemen and farmers are
taking their current problems in
stride and are not as upset about
them as some politicians are.
The President said he is not
going to be critical of his Secre
tary of Agriculture because Ben
son has not yet produced a quick
solution of the farm problem.
Eisenhower declined, with a
laugh, to say whether he thought
discontent over administration
farm policies was the chief factor
in the recent election of a Demo
crat to Congress from a normally
Republican congressional district
in Wisconsin.
The chief executive was in a
buoyant mood and touched a wide
range of subjects in his news con
ference:
1. He does not plan to take
part on the state or local level in
next year’s congressional elec
tions but hopes he can help the
Republican party by trying to
establish policies which the over
whelming majority of American
approve.
2. On the subject of Cpl. Ed
ward S. Dickenson, the soldier
who changed his mind about re
maining in Communist hands —
considering the intense indoctrin
ation to which American prison
ers were subjected, he sometimes
wonders there weren’t more who
elected to stay behind.
3. He does not know whether
it would be possible to sell the
Tennessee Valley Administration
to private industry without wreck
ing the entire system. He had
been asked to comment on the
statement by Clarence Manion,
head of a commission studying
federal-state relations, that TVA
should never have been built and
ought to be sold by the federal
government.
4. On Israel, he replied with a
firm yes, but did not elaborate,
when asked if he had discussed
with Secretary of State Dulles the
cutting off of economic aid to
that country.
STUDENTS DEMONSTRATE
IN ROME FOR RETURN
OF TRIESTE TO ITALY
ROME, (#)—For the second con
secutive day students tangled
Rome’s main streets Wednesday
with demonstrations calling for
the return to disputed Trieste to
Italy.
The demonstrations, however,
began on a far more peaceful key
than Tuesday when Rome riot
police, backed up by a few troops,
battled parading students in front
of the Soviet embassy.
But there were a few minor
scuffles between Communist and
Neo-Fascist youths. Police ar
rested 17 persons whom they ac
cused of being Communist agita
tors.