™E NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVIII No. 117 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1956 Per Copy—15*
C -124 Globemaster Crashes, Burns
At Charleston Base; Three Killed
CHARLESTON, S. C., tP—A
C-124 Globemaster crashed and
burned today at the Charleston
Air Force Base. Three of the 10
men aboard were killed.
The others were sped to the
U.S. Naval rtospital here with
undetermined injuries.
The Air Force base public re
lations office said the huge plane,
coming in from Bermuda, landed
short on an instrument runway
about 7:30 a.m. The plane appar
estly burst into flame after it hit
and v/as consumed. A light fog
hung over the base at the time.
The Globemaster struck a short
distance north of the base admin
istration building.
A civilian employe in the base
administration building said he
heard on the communications sys
tem speaker a distress call from
the incoming plane. He said the
plane first reported it was losing
one engine, then two. He added
•fire trucks were on the runway
awaiting the plane's arrival.
The employe said he saw a ball
of flame as the plane crashed,
careening over on its left wing
tip.
The plane was reported to have
been enroute from Bermuda to its
home station at Brookley Air
Force Base, Mobile, Ala.
The base PIO said the plane
made two instrument approaches
for its scheduled landing, and ap
parently hit a tree on the way
down.
Jack Benny
Plays His Fiddle
In Carnegie Hall
Mighty Philharmonic
Accompanies Him
For Laughs, Charity
NEW YORK, OP—Comedian Jack
Benny solemnly sawed a fiddle
for laughs—and charity—in an
unusual “concert” in hallowed
Carnegie Hall last night.
Impeccable in white tie and
tails, Benny dusted off a bor
rowed Stradivarius and strode
onto the same stage where Hei
fetz, Kreisler and Elman made
musical history.
He tucked the violin under his
chin with professional aplomb
and prepared to play. But he
stopped before he started. He had
forgotten his bow.
The audience howled.
And so it went as Benny wres
tled with Sarasote's woefully dif
ficult “Ziguenerweisen" (Gypsy
Airs) and the first movement of
Mendelssohn’s violin concerto.
In the middle of the “Gypsy
Airs" he fiddled into his trade
mark number, “Love in Bloom,”
without missing a beat.
Seventy members of the New
York Philharmonic Symphony
Orchestra more or less accompan
ied Jack Benny.
The concert Was a benefit for
the Committee to Save Carnegie
Hall and the National Assn, for
Retarded Children.
New Exploration
Needed to Supply
Mineral Demands
LOS ANGELES. MV—Secretary
of the Interior Fred A. Seaton
says a new era of exploration is
needed to supply the minerals re
quired by modern industrial so
ciety.
Seaton told the openeing ses
sion of the American Mining
Congress convention Monday that
America’s high grade mineral re
serves are being depleted and
new deposits must be found.
“The mining industry has per
haps depended too long upon ore
discovered decades ago,” he said.
Seaton said the federal govern
ment should aid in the search for
new mineral supplies and pro
mised the Eisenhower adminis
tration will “make every effort
to encourage this movement and
to create a favorable environ
ment” for large investments of
risk capital.
Trade Assn. Calls for
End to Government
Controls Over Gold
YAKIMA, Wash., UP)—The Pa
cific Northwest Trade Assn, yes
terday called for an end to gov
ernment controls over gold in the
final sessions of the PNTA’s Gen
eral Conference.
The 230 delegates to the two
day meeting unanimously en
dorsed a bill by Sen. Case <R-SD)
to abolish a requirement that all
freshly-mined gold be sold to the
government at the fixed rate of
$35 an ounce.
Nat Brown, Yakima attorney
and chairman of the resolutions
committee, said passage of the
bill would reopen the world mar
ket for gold, increasing prices to
a point where it would be worth
while to reopen mines.
19-Year-Old Boy
Is Found Dead
Here Yesterday
Phillip Oksoktaruk, aged 19,
was found dead yesterday after
noon at his home where he lived
with his mother Fanny, and sis
ter Magdeline. The sister found
the body.
Phillip entered Nome High
School last week as a senior,
having attended school at Mt.
Edgecumbe prior to coming to
Nome.
The Oksoktaruk family orig
inally came from White Mountain.
An inquest was to be held this
afternoon to determine if the
youth had taken his own life. A
.22 caliber rifle was found by the
body.
The funeral will be held at 2
o’clock Friday afternoon from the
Covenant Church.
RUSSIA WILL SEND
OBSERVERS TO U.S.
POLITICAL SCENE
WASHINGTON, UP!—Russia has
accepted an invitation to send two
or three observers to “view at
first hand” the American political
campaign and the Nov. 6 elec
tions.
State Department officials re
ported today the Soviet Foreign
Office agreed Monday to the bid
extended four days earlier by the
State Department as part of its
cultural exchange program.
The Soviet governmfent in ac
cepting, officials said, also said it
would be glad to welcome two or
three Americans to observe the
elections of the Supreme Soviet.
The next such Soviet election is
scheduled for 1958 to pick mem
bers of this body, which is the
Communist equivalent of a par
liament.
Russia’s acceptance is expected
to pave the way for similar agree
ments by Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and Romania, which also
were invited to send similar ob
servers to the United States.
Bing Says Demand for His Records
Is Down to ‘Faint Whisper' Because
He’s Running Out of Enthusiasm
LONDON, Wl—Bing Crosby said
today the demand for his record
ings is down to “a faint whisper”
because he is running plumb out
of drive and enthusiasm.
The Old Groaner, a topliner for
three decades, made his comment
in a letter written from Hayden
Lake, Idaho, to the popular music
column in the London Daily Ex
press.
The column recently did a trea
tise on the 52-year-old crooner
entitled, "Is Bing Crosby Going
Out—Or Has He Gone?”
“I’m ‘long gone’,” Crosby re
plied, explaining:
“I just don’t sing as well as I
used to. I’m just not as enthusias
tic as I used to be. The feel for a
song isn’t there, the desire to sing,
to be in action—and when this
is absent, so is the style.
“I don’t think increasing age
has got anything to do with it or
that the pipes are getting rusty,
because I believe voice quality
has very little to do with public
acceptance of a popular singer.
“It’s the style and mood they
create that put them over.”
Crosby said his waning enthusi
asm will not, however, keep him
from recording "here and there
and now and again.”
Crosby, wrote Express colum
nist Cyril Stapleton, is being over
modest.”
“He can still teach style and
give points to everyone else,” said
Stapleton, “because he is a happy
sounding singer whose good hu
mor comes thru in his songs as
much as in his writing.”
Five in Bush Plane
Overdue in Nome
Since 6 Last Night
-4
#
Texas Financier
Urges Return to
Gold Standard
LOS ANGELES, A return
to the gold standard has been
urged by a Texas financier who
says America’s ability to wage
war is being periled by its failure
to increase its gold reserves.
B. F. Pitman Jr., head of a San
Antonio investment banking firm,
told the American Mining Con
gress yesterday that in the event
of war the gold supply in Fort
Knox would be quickly depleted,
thus impairing America’s ability
to buy raw materials abroad.
“I feel certain, however,” he
said, “that in the world at large
almost anything required to fight
a war can be obtained with gold.”
Pitman urged the use of gold
coins, wider use of gold in jewel
ry, and called on “some of the
rich foundations” to finance a
campaign for a return to the gold
standard.
DOCTOR UPSETS
NOTION ABOUT
THE TENDER SEX’
LOS ANGELES, MV— Men are
more fragile than women, says
Dr. Daniel Beltz.
A family physician, Dr. Beltz
told an audience: “The vital or
gans of men are more fragile than
those of women, and 200,000 more
men than women have died an
nually in the United States in
this decade.”
The years between 45 and 60
are particularly dangerous for
men, he said, whereas women
find the going harder after 80.
Blood vessel damage resulting
from making decisions under
pressure were blamed by Dr.
Beltz for the high mortality rate
among business executives.
Dodgers Win 1st Game
BROOKLYN, (fl’l — The
Brooklyn Dodgers won the first
game of the World Series today,
downing the New York
Yankees 6 to 3.
California Deaths
On Highways
Hit Record High
SACRAMENTO, WV-The Cali
fornia Highway Patrol today re
ported that 357 traffic deaths in
the state last month hit an all
time high for September.
B. R, Caldwell, CHP commis
sioner, said the figure tops the
previous 342 mark set in Septem
ber 1952 and brought to 2,710 the
number of persons killed on high
ways so far this year.
All available aircraft in the
area responded at daybreak to
day to search for the overdue
Alaska Airlines bush plane
piloted by John Hutchinson. The
plane has been overdue since
about 6 o’clock yesterday after
noon.
According to reports received
Hutchinson picked up four pas
sengers after leaving Unalakleet
enroute back to Nome. They were
Johnny Takak at Shaktoolik,
Buddy Owens at Golovin, Johnny
Elook at White Mountain at
about 5 o’clock, and last Don
Stewart at Council. Hutchison
left Council at 5:25 yesterday
afternon, headed for Nome.
The overdue plane is a red
6-place Stinson.
Eight planes of this area are
known to be aiding in the search,
in addition to a Search and Res
cue plane from Fairbanks.
All reports at press time today
were negative. It is feared that
perhaps in the darkness and fog
that Hutchison missed the beach
and went down in Bering Sea.
Naval Reserve
Flier Dies in
Burning Plane
His Last Act Is
To Wave Away
Would - Be Rescuers
ROCKLAND, Mass., Ifl—A na
val reserve flier perished in the
burning wreckage of his downed
jet plane last night after consid
erately waving away three would
be rescuers for fear an explosion
would harm them.
Scores of other persons stood
by at a safer distance and saw the
flames kill Lt. (JG) Donald R.
Good, 27, of Natick, father of two
children and a commercial pilot
in civilian life.
Three men were scorched
slightly while trying desperately
to pry open the plastic cockpit
canopy which jammed after the
plane crashed on the chicken
farm of Gerald Del Prete, 38.
Eyewitnesses said Lt. Good was
still alive while the men were
trying to free him. He died in the
flames after waving away the
men who had succeeded in open
ing the canopy only a few inches.
Del Prete, one of three men
who tried to free the pilot, said
of the pilot:
“When death came to him he'
was tense. His jaw was set. His
lips had been moving. But he
wasn’t panicky. He was game and
conscious.
“And the last thing he did in
his life was to wave me away. He
was afraid the wreckage of his
plane was going to blow up and
that I’d be killed too."