2£ NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVIII No. 90 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JULY 30, 1936_ Per Copy—15^
19 Teen-Age Mountain Climbers
Fall Into Crevasse; Girl Suffocates
TIMBERLINE LODGE, Ore.,
—A group of youthful moun
tain climbers, roped together for
safety, was plunged to the bottom
of a rocky crevasse yesterday
when two of their number lost
their footing.
One girl died and the others
were injured, some of them ser
iously, as the teen-agers were
whipped, one after the other, over
the brink on the slopes of Mount
Hood.
The accident occurred near the
summit of the 11,235-foot peak in
cascades some 60 miles east of
Portland.
Youngsters on a Tour
The youngsters had come from
eastern and midwestern states on
a bike and train tour of the coun
try. They had climbed the 'peak
and were on their way down
when the mishap occurred at
about 3:30 p.m.
Other climbers saw the acci
dent and brought word to the
lodge here. Rescue crews were or
ganized and worked through the
night to bring the climbers and
their leaders down.
Girl Suffocated
Lynn Kaufman, 16, of Larch
Man, 71, Convinced
Fall Did Him No Good
SOUTH BEND, Ind., to—Glen
W. Dunning toppled eight feet
from the roof of his house to the
ground, but already had a ladder
up and was ready to climb back
to resume hi§ house painting
when police arrived.
They persuaded Dunning to ac
company them to a hospital where
he was found to have a broken
back, body bruises and a concus
sion.
The hospital records also listed
Dunning’s age. He’s 71 years old.
mont, N.Y., was dead by the time
help arrived. She was suffocated
when driven deep into the snow
at the bottom of the 40-foot drop.
Several others were injured
critically and only two of the
party of 19 were able to walk.
The injured were carried down
the slopes by litter and taken to
Portland hospitals.
Some of them lay for hours on
the lip of the crevasse as doctors
worked over them.
Party Slid 100 Feet
The youngsters slid a hundred
or more feet down an icy chute.,
then were dashed into a jumbled
pile at the bottom of the crevasse.
One climber who saw them said
they all were roped together, 19,
on about 100 feet of rope, and
suddenly two of those at the back
of the line lost their footing.
As they slid they whipped the
others off their feet and all went
plummeting into the crevasse.
That was just before 4 p. m.
Tom Pfau, 35, of Salem, Ore., who
saw them fall, hurried to them.
They were crying and moaning,
he said, and all were hopelessly
entangled in their rope. He cut
the rope, pulled some from the
pile, and then went down the
mountain for help.
Plasma Dropped
Rescue efforts were organized
swiftly. The U.S. Air Force sent a
plane to drop plasma and other
medical supplies and the Royal
Canadian Air Force sent a heli
copter able to operate at high al
titudes, to McChord AFB, Wash.,
to be ready for a call.
Ralph Wiese, a veteran forest
ranger and mountain climber, led
the first party to the scene. Moun
taineers, hearing of the mishap,
drove here in a steady stream and
started up with stretchers and
supplies.
Captain of Another Ship Says
Stockholm Was Off Course W hen
She Collided With Andrea Doria
NEW YORK, WV—The logs of
the liner Andrea Doria, which
will be important in investiga
tions, were saved when the ship
sank off Nantucket last Thursday,
the Italian Line announced today.
The logs constitute a vital,
hourly record of the ship’s course,
communications and navigational
conditions.
A company spokesman said the
logs were salvaged by Capt. Pelro
Calamai, the ship's master, who
was the last man to leave her af
ter the collision with the Swedish
diner Stockholm.
The records were placed in
the hands of the Italian consul
general here. That office, in turn,
disclosed ft is dispatching the rec
ords to the Italian government in
Rome—probably by diplomatic
pouch.
Stockholm Off Course ,
Meanwhile, another ship skip
per, Capt. James W. La Belle, of
the American export liner Inde
pendence, Said that news reports
of where the crash occurred indi
cated the Stockholm was off her
course. La Belle made the com
ment in an interview when his
ship arrived here from Europe
today.
, VOne sailor does not criticize
another sailor unless he is at the
scene of action,” La Belle said.
"All I know of the collision is
what I have read, and if it is true
that the Stockholm was 45 miles
off Nantucket, then she was off
course.”
This is the position given by
the U.S. Coast Guard and others
at the time of the disaster.
36 Unaccounted For
The number of persons still un
accounted for in the sinking was
reduced further today—from 37
to 36. This is in addition to two
listed as known dead_ and 18 miss
ing and presumed dead.
The deluxe liner carried 1,706
passengers and crewmen.
Many of the 36 still unaccount
(Continued, <fn Page Two)
British Exports
Of War Materials
To Egypt Stopped
LONDON, —Prime Minister
Eden announced today all exports
of British war materials to Egypt
have been stopped.
Eden made the announcement
in the House of Commons in an
swer to a question from Laborite
Bessie Braddock after he present
ed a brief statement on*the seeth
ing Suez situation.
“All exports of war materials
to Egypt have been stopped,” he
said.
This brought loud cheers.
He had summarized Britain’s
actions so far in retaliation to the
Egyptian seizure of the Suez Ca
nal, including the freezing of
Egypt's sterling balance in Lon
don. The Prime Minister told of
talks with French and American
officials and then said:
“No arrangements for the fu
ture of this great international
waterway could be acceptable to
Her Majesty’s Government which
would leave it in the unfettered
control of a single power which
could, as recent events have
shown, exploit it purely for the
purposes of national policy. . .
Four Polish
Anti-Communists
Fly to Freedom
VIENNA, Austria, UP)—Two air
planes, bearing four Polish anti
communists, landed in Austria
Saturday after they had flown
across Czechoslavakia on a twin
dash from behind the iron curtain.
The two flights were just a
month after Polish workers made
their bloodily suppressed revolt
at the city-of Poznan.
Two Polish air cadets landed
their little training plane, which
they had stolen from an airport
near Warsaw, at Oberbergern,
near Krems, after running out of
fuel,.
Shortly afterward, Austrian po
lice announced two other Poles
crashed their plane in a forest
near Kirchbert Am Wechsel near
Neunkirch.
One of the Poltes was slightly1
injured. They said they had taken
off in their Yat-18 plane from the
Polish airport of Deblin Friday
night.
The two air cadets told Aus
trian police they were fleeing
from “unbearable living condi
tions’’ in their Communist home
land and wanted political asylum
in Austria.
Families Evacuate Homes
In Flood Without Rain
CLAYTON, N.J., MV-Some res
idents of this south Jersey town
were flooded out yesterday and it
wasn’t even raining.
A 150,000-gallon storage tank
lost its bottom. A torrent of water
—400 tons worth—poured out. It
smashed fences, chicken coops,
a cow barn, a tool shed, snapped
trees, ripped up gardens and dam
aged five houses.
Families had to evacuate flood
ed homes, but there were no hu
man injuries. The only victims:
58 chickens reported missing.
19 MEN KILLED IN EXPLOSION
AND FIRE AT TANK FARM
DUMAS, Tex., —A petroleum
tank farm explosion and fire
killed 19 men yesterday but sub
sided today to a single.fire in one
oil tank and apparently there was
no further danger.
Fifteen men burned to death al
most instantly as a super-hot wall
of fire shot across the ground j
when the first of four tanks ex
ploded and burned. Four others
died later of horrible burns.
Funerals were held today for at
least seven of the victims—in Du
mas and nearby Sunray. Services
were planned later in half a doz
en Texas cities for the other vic
tims.
31 Others Burned
Thirty-one other persons were j
burned, by the blast that shot an
orange fireball thousands of feet
high and seared everything in a
quarter-mile radius. Only seven
of the 31 remained on the serious
list today. The others were dis
charged from the hospital.
Horrified spectators saw friends
and relatives stumble, moaning
and crying, their clothing afire,
from the smoke and flames at the
Shamrock Oil and Gas Corp. tank
farm. Ensuing explosions burned
and shattered three other big
storage tanks and blackened oth
ers nearby.
“The fiery blast snuffed out
their lives and they crumpled in
their tracks,” editor Bill Lask of
the Moore County News said.
His Back in Flames
Bob Hamilton, a News reporter,
said his hair almost caught fire
200 yards from the explosion. A
shirtless boy stumbled out with
his naked Ijack in flames. He said
the dead were caught in a “pool
of fire.”
Some of the burning bodies set
fire to blankets used to wrap
them. Other bodies exploded from
internal steam pressure. A rail
road bridge burned a quarter of
a mile away.
Bob Brower, Shamrock public
relations official, said the men
were fighting a small ground fire
when the 20,000-barrel tank con
taining pentane, a butane-like
fuel, caught fire. Firemen who
were attempting to cool other
tanks were caught in the first ex
plosion at 6:53 a.m. Greater loss
of life was averted because many
of the men had backed away from
the tank because of the intense
heat.
Galvin Donates TV Set
To The Youth Center
Larry Qalvin has contributed a
17-inch Packard Bell TV set to
the Youth Center Committee. The
set will be given away some time
soon with proceeds to go to the
Youth Center Fund.
The teen-agers of the town will
take charge of disposing of the
TV set under the direction 6f
Sgt. Richard August.
Tornadic Winds at Springs
Mrs. Rose Bronson reports the
Pilgrim Springs were struck by
tornadic winds Thursday. She es
timates the force at about a hun
dred miles an hour because it
blew down large trees and com
pletely demolished the b a t h
house right at the springs.
She says that Les Bronson had
taken off for Nome about an hour
before the wind started, and a
lucky thing it was too, because
the plane could not have with
stood the winds.
McKeon Defense Loses Bid for
Innocent Verdict in Court-Martial
PARRIS ISLAND, S. C., UP!—
The defense today lost its hid for
a directed verdict of innocent in
the court-martial of marine S.
Sgt. Matthew C. McKeon.
Defense Attorney Emile Zola
of New York City asked the court
at the opening of its third week
of trial for innocent verdicts for
the former drill instructor ac
cused of involuntary manslaught
er in the drowning of six recruits,
oppression of recruits, and drink
ing in the presence of a recruit.
In a deliberate tone, the trial
judge. Navy Capt. Irving N. Klein
of New York City also, said, “The
motion for a finding of not guilty
is denied.”
Panel Agrees
Technically, the seven - man
court-martial could have over
ruled Klein by a three-fourths
vote. But in a membcr-by-mem
ber poll, the panel voiced “no ob
jection.”
The only' charge on which Ber
man did not make a motion for
dismissal was that of possessing j
an alcoholic beverage in barracks.
The first defense witness was
S. Sgt. Elwyn Scarborough of
Lynchburg, S.C., a red-faced rifle j
instructor. Scarborough' testified
it was his bottle from which Mc
Keon, 31, drank the afternoon of
April 8. That McKeon led 74
members of a recruit platoon into
a tide-swept marsh where six
drowned.
Hydrographer Testifies
Second witness for the defense
was Warrant Officer Leslie E.
Voile, of Chestnut, 111., a blue
eyed man with hair a real carrot
color. He is a hydrographer and
engineer.
Voile said meticulous survey of
the area indicated no holes in the
marsh and creek bed where the
six recruits drowned.
Several members of the ill-fat
ed platoon had testified earlier
that as they marched into the wa
ter they dropped into holes.
By reconstructing aye baromet
ric pressure on the fatal night of
April 8, Voile said he though the
tide would have been lower than
usual because of an off-shore
breeze. He placed the high tide
at around 5 feet 3 inches but add
ed it “was probably less.”
The government had contended
earlier the tide crested that night
at 7 feet 3 inches. The march took
place two hours after high tide.