ss NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATEDlPRESS
VOL. LVI No. 6 NOME, ALASKaTwEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1954 Per Copy—15^,
Mother Who Flew North to Fairbanks
To Claim Dead Son Finds Him Alive
In Amazing Case of Mistaken Identity
FAIRBANKS, UP) — A mother*
who flew north from Tacoma to j
claim the body of her dead son
discovered yesterday that he was
alive in an amazing case of mis
taken identity.
Mrs. Florence Thompson of
Tacoma entered the hospital room
where a person identified as her
son’s roommate was lying uncon
scious on the bed. Mrs. Thompson
gazed at him and shouted:
“That’s my son!”
A body in the Fairbanks Funer
al Home which had been identi
fined hs that of Gerald Thompson,
23, then was identified as being
Gary Allen Young, 21, also of
Tacoma.
The two youths occupied a one
room cabin on the outskirts of
Fairbanks. Thompson was an em
ploye of a local airline and Young
worked for the U. S. Geological
Survey.
Thompson’s fiancee visited the
cabin Sunday to get an electric
drill she had lent Thompson.
When she got no answer at the
door, she investigated and found
a man she believed to be Thomp
son dead on the bed and a person
believed to be Young unconscious
beside him.
Recognition was difficult as
both men were badly swollen and
their faces and chests had turned
a bright red.
Dr. Harvey Storrs, who con
ducted an autopsy, said he could
not determine the cause of death
immediately but it could be poi
soning or due to gas from the
stove in the closed cabin.
Thompson still is in critical
condition.
Gary Young, the man now iden
tified as dead, was an orphan and
had no known relatives.
Mrs. Thompson arrived in Fair
banks Monday accompanied by |
another son, Robert. She came to
make arrangements for her son’s
funeral. Tuesday momnig she
visited the hospital room of the
man believed to be her son’s
roommate and there made the dis
covery her son was alive.
Los Angeles Shaken By
Earthquake, Rain and Hail
LOS ANGELES, (iP)—California
was shaken by an earthquake and
showered by rain, hail dhd snow
yesterday in a spectacular com
bination of natural phenomena.
The quake, rated by seismolo
gists as a major shock, jolted
cities from the Mexican border
to Sacramento, 500 mile north.
There were no injuries, but elec
tric wires were snapped and plas
ter shattered in numerous build
ings.
The Caltech seismograph re
corded the earthquake for more
than a minute. Seismologists said
it was of 5.75 to 6.25 magnitude
on a scale of 10.
The storm in Southern Califor
nia, accompanied by thunder and
lightning brought more than half
an inch of rain to Los Angeles.
Hail pelted Glendale and other
sections and lightning caused
some minor damage.
Ike Repeats Alaska
Not Ready For
Statehood Yet
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower repeated today that
he believes Alaska is not ready
for statehood.
The reference came at a press
conference in which the President
also discussed important foreign
and domestic issues.
He said this country’s prelimi
nary atomic talks with Russia are
encouraging, but it is too soon to
tell whether the Soviets are acting
in good faith. The atomic talks are
an outgrowth of his proposal for
an international atomic energy
pool for peaceful purposes.
On the controversial farm pro
gram which he submitted to
Congress last Monday, Eisenhow
er declared he believes it is work
able and practicable. As to whe
ther it is politically feasible in
this election year, the President
said we’ll find out about that
l^ter, but that he is convinced
the program for a switch to flex
ible price supports is right.
On his labor law proposal for a
system of government-conducted
elections among employes on the
question of striking, the Presi
dent said he would leave to Con
gress whether such votes should
come before or after a strike has
begun.
Eisenhower said that in making
the recommendation as part of
his plan for amending the Taft
Hartley Act he wras trying to es
tablish a principle. He said he pur
posely avoided spelling out details
because that is the province of
Congress.
Reds Incorporating North
Korea as Chinese Province
WASHINGTON, iffl — Secretary
of State Dulles said Wednesday
that Communist China is “virtual
ly incorporating North Korea as
a Chinese province,” making more
difficult the prospect of peacefully
uniting all Korea.
Dulles appeared before the Sen
ate Foreign Relations Committee
to ask Senate ratification for the j
new mutual defense treaty be
tween this country and South
Korea.
He said he felt certain that “in
the long run” North and South
Korea would be united, just as j
he said he believes all Germany i
will some day be re-unified.
JUDGE SHOT IN COURT ROOM j
WARREN, Pa., (£)—-Judge Al
lison D. Wade, 51, of Warren
County was shot to death while
presiding .in his courtroom Wed
nesday by a man cited for non
support payments to his wife.
The man, identified as Norman
Moon of Connellsville, Pa., later
shot himself six miles west of
Warren after a bullet from a state
policeman’s gun halted has car.
He is reported in critical condi
tion at Warren hospital.
Rescued Flier Tells
Of Sleepless Wc^ek
On Arctic lee Pack
BARROW, UP) — A pilot who
made a forced landing on the
Arctic ice pack told here last
night how he survived a week
without sleep at 50 below zero
temperatures before he was sight
ed by Air Force fliers searching
in winter’s almost endless dark
ness.
Jeul Thebedeau vanished Jan.
5 while flying from Fairbanks to
the community of Barrow where
his wife was expected to give
birth to twins. He was sighted
Monday just as the organized
search was about to be aban
doned.
He was forced down north of
the mouth of the Colville River
on pack ice when the engine of
his light plane, quit because of
the intense cold. Marooned, he
had only a small amount of food
and no radio to summon aid.
He sat in the cabin of his light
plane for five days, not daring to
go to slee-p because he was afraid
he would freeze to death. During
this period he heard the drone
of a search plane in the darkness
overhead. He threw his remaining
gasoline on his gloves and the
seats of the aircraft on the ice
and set them afire. But the search
plane droned away, unseeing.
On the fifth day, Thebedeau ate
his last food and set out. He was
100 miles from Barrow.
Walking from dawn Saturday
to Sunday morning, Thebedeau
covere-d about 20 miles. Monday
morning the exhausted pilot heard
a search aircraft about half a
mile south of him. He desperate
ly set fire tp his maps and com
putator, the last of the burnable
(Continued on Page Two'
Sabre Jet, Lost In LA Fog, |
Crashes In Long Beach
Killing 6 and Injuring 2
LONG BEACH, Calif., m —
Shrouded in rain' clouds, an Air
Force jet fighter plane rocketed
into a Signal Hill residential dis
trict late yesterday, demolishing
two homes and exploded, set fire
to a third home and damaged a
fourth. Six persons died in the
ghastly inferno and four were in
jured, two so seriously they may
not recover.
In addition an elderly man, hor
rified at what he saw, suffered a
heart attack and died.
The hurtling plane ripped out
telephone lines and broke gas
mains that erupted into geysers
of flame as blazing jet fuel cas
caded over what an instant before
had been a quiet neighborhood in
the oil producing area, which is
completely surrounded by the city
of Long Beach.
The pilot, Maj. Robert A. Blair
of Omaha, Neb., died in the pyre
formed by his twisted and smoul
dering jet. A -boy perished in the
street where he was playing.
The ill-fated F-86 Sabre jet v/as
one of two returning to the Long
Beach Municipal Airport from
Williams Air Force Base, Ariz.,
when they were enveloped in
dense clouds that brought heavy
rains to the Los Angeles abea.
\
Nome Amateur Radio Operator Gets
Word of Polio On St. Paul Is. In Which
Two Children Die, Three Hospitalized
Senator Certain Ike
Will Veto Alaska
Statehood if Passed
WASHINGTON, UP) — Senator
Jackson (D-Wash) today predicted
the present session of Congress
will approve statehood for both
Hawaii and Alaska—or neither.
The Washington senator said he
does not believe the Senate will
pass a bill calling for admission
into the union of Hawaii alone.
Sizing up statehood possibilities
he told a newsman he feels the
Eisenhower administration “made
a regrettable mistake” in its de
cision to push legislation to ad
mit Hawaii.
“Under Democratic administra
tions,” he declared, “the two bills
have been brought up together to
avoid partisanship. Pushing the
Hawaii bill without Alaska has
turned statehood into a partisan
fight which is unfortunate.”
Jackson said he felt Alaska’s
only chances of obtaining state
hood under the Republican ad
ministration lies in its being com
bined with the Hawaii bill.
He said he felt certain Presi
dent Eisenhower would veto an
Alaskan statehood proposal even
should it succeed in passing the
Republican Congress.
Jackson said he felt the move
to combine the two bills would
receive the overwhelming support
of Senate Democrats, including
southerners who oppose statehood
for either territory.
Although Jackson predicts suc
cess for the Alaska amendment,
he said he would vote for the
Hawaiian bill even should the
Alaskan move fail.
Air Secretary Cites Need ,
For Air Force Academy I
To Train Young Officers
WASHINGTON, (J>) — Harold
E. Talbott, Air Force Secretary,
told Congress today there is an
“immediate and, in my opinion,
urgent” need for a separate air
academy to help overcome a
shortage of young officers.
Talbott appeared before the
House Armed Services committee
at the start of hearings on a bill
to authorize an air force West
Point and permit initial planning.
The cost is- estimated at 100 mil
lion dollars.
President Eisenhower has per
sonally endorsed the measure,
Talbott testified.
Seaiile Fur Exchange Auction Of
187,00 Pelts Set For Jan. 21st
SEATTLE, (#1—1The Seattle Fur
Exchange announced today the
opening Jan. 21 of an auction of
more than 187,000 pelts.
The list is topped by 85,000 each
of mink and muskrat.
Other offerings, mostly from
Alaska, include: 3,800 marten
furs; 7,000 beaver; 1,000 silver
fox; 2,000 red fox; 500 each of
cross fox, white fox and otter;
300 lynx and 2,500 ermines.
) SEATTLE, iffi — A polio out
break was reported today on St.
Paul Island off Alaska, with two
children dead and three hospital
ized.
The word was relayed by James
Walsh, Pan American World Air
ways manager at Nome, after a
Nome radio operator contacted
an amateur operator on the tiny
island in the Bering Sea.
“Doctor is too busy to talk to
you,” the St. Paul Island oper
ator reported.
A Reeve Aleutian Airways DC3
from Anchorage, delivered a res
pirator and supply of Gamma Glo
bulin to the tiny Bering Sea Is
land yesterday.
Information received at An
chorage said only three cases had
been reported there, with one
death. The physician there is Dr.
H. V. Belcher, of the Fish and
Wildlife Service.
Meantime Cutter Laboratories
at Berkeley, Calif., reported it
had shipped 300 doses of Gamma
Globulin by air to combat the
outbreak.
Cutter said the shipment of 300
vials was ordered by the Office
of Defense Mobilization in Wash
ington, which controls allotment
of the anti-polio serum.
The serum was placed aboard
a Western Airlines plane at Oak
land for Seattle. A Pan American
Airways plane was to fly the
serum to Juneau, and a Pacific
Northern plane to take it from
there to Anchorage, where it was
scheduled to ai'rive at 3:10 p.m.
today.
Cutter said it understood a pri
vate plane would fly the Gamma
Globulin from Anchorage and
drop it to St. Paul Island by para
chute.
The island, with a population of
about 310 Eskimos, Indians, and
U.S. government officials, is
maintained as a seal rookery by
the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries.
Proposal Before Congress
Will Rule Out Aboriginal
Indian Claims in Alaska
WASHINGTON, UP) — A pro
posal that Congress rule out the
possible existence of Indian abor
iginal rights to Alaskan lands was
made yesterday by the Depar:
ment of Interior as the House
Territories subcommittee, heade-cl.
by Rep. Saylor (R-Pa) opened a
four-day hearing on a bill to set
tle Indian land claims in Alaska.
Saylor and Delegate Bartle’t
each told newsmen after the
closed hearing that they oppose
the department recommendation.
In eliminating aboriginal rights,
the department’s proposal would
permit claims only for land
actually occupied by the Indians.
The subcommittee was to hold
a public session today to hear
witnesses who have not appeared
previously. Closed sessions are
scheduled for Thursday and Fri
day.
In addition, Saylor said the de
partmental recommendations
might necessitate further hearin s
at a later date to hear views of
the Indians.