ss NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOl!~LVI No. 21 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17, 1954 , ~ Per Copy—15^
Alaskans Awarded
Gold Medals For
Public Service
WASHINGTON, W — Secretary
of Commerce Weeks Tuesday
awarded gold medals for out
standing contribution to the pub
lic service to two Commerce De
partment employes in Alaska and
Seattle.
One medal went to John G.
Merriam, of the Weather Bureau,
at Yakutat. He received this
award for heroic action in pilot
ing a plane which rescued a
mountain climber from Mela
spina Glacier July 12, 1953.
Another went to John J.
Strandberg, of the U. S. Coast
and Geodetic Survey, Seattle, for
“unusual courage, involving jeop
ardy of life in rescuing a fellow
employe from drowning, or death
from exposure in the extremely
frigid waters of th© Bering Sea.”
Weeks also presented the De
partment’s silver medal for meri
torious service to Edna C. Thomp
son, Civil Aeronautics Adminis
tration employe at Anchorage.
The citation said Miss Thomp
son, formerly a registered nurse
at the Kodiak hospital, displayed
unusual competence both as a
nurse and as a clerical worker “in
emergencies involving welfare of
CAA employes and their families
in isolated stations in Alaska,
of ton at great personal sacrifice.”
The silver medal also was
awarded George H. Sargent of
Annette Island.
Ground Crews Continue
Search In Subzero For
Missing Men From C-47
ANCHORAGE, UR — An Air
Force ground crew battled deep
snow and subzero cold Tuesday in
the continuing search for two
men still listed as missing from
the Feb. 5 C-47 transport crash
in the mountains north of here.
The Air Force said the search
will continue until all leads are
exhausted.
The two were among the 16
aboard the transport when it ex
ploded near Curry, while on a
flight from Anchorage to Fair
banks.
Six p r.ichuted to safety and
eight we e killed in the crash.
Still listed as missing are Lt.
Col. W. West-Watson, of the Brit
ish Joint Military Service Com
mission, Washington, D.C., and
Airman 1/c Edmund S. McMahon,
Butte, Mont.
Gen. Twining Gets First
Look at Canadian Fighter
MONTREAL, UR—Gen. Nathan
F. Twining, U.S. Air Force chief
of staff, got his first look at tfce
CF-100 fighter Tuesday and said
he thought it would be a great
success.
The former chief of the Alaska
Air Command, accompanied by J..
F. Douglas, U.S. Underrsecretary
for Air, reviewed a flight of the
Canadian all-weather fighters at
the nearby St. Hubert air force
base.
Twining was on his way back
to Washington from Ottawa after
discussions with Defense Minis
ter Broke Claxton.
Sen. Judiciary Committee
Approves Alaskan
Marshals and D.A.s
WASHINGTON, Uf)—A Senate
Judiciary subcommtitee today ap
proved nominees of President
Eisenhower for U.S. attorneys
and marshals. They include:
Attorneys — William T. Plum
mer, Anchorage, Third Division.
Marshals — Claire A. Wilder,
Petersburg, First Division; Fred
S. Williams, Anchorage, Third
Division; and Albert F. Dorsh, Jr.,
Fairbanks, Fourth Division.
The committee met today to
hear objections—if any—to the
nominations. No witnesses ap
peared to testify against them.
Troops and Police Patrol
Streets of Calcutta After
Tuesday’s Savage Riots
NEW DELHI, India, IIP)—Troops
and police held a tight grip Wed
nesday on the riot-battered city
of Calcutta. The damaged U.S.
Information Agency library there
remained closed against the pos
scbility of fresh violence.
Reports reaching New Delhi
said soldiers with ready arms pat
rolled the stone-littered streets of
the city’s central section to bar
resumption of Tuesday’s Com
munist-led riots, which resulted
in three dead and CO wounded.
Tuesday’s wild street fighting
followed a march of 10,.000 dem
onstrators on the Bengali slate
legislative chambers in support of
a teachers’ strike. Police attempt
ing to halt the demonstration
were met with repeated savage
attacks. The U.S. library was one
of the targets for attack by the
screaming mob.
Troops were called in to restore
order after the rioters returned
again and again to the attack.
Police finally used firearms to
disperse demonstrators still mill
ing around Tuesday night.
RED RADIO SAYS AMERICAN
BUILT AIRCRAFT SHOT DOWN
LONDON, GP) — Peiping radio
said today Chinese Communist
troops shot down “two American
built aircraft” earlier this month
in the coastal province of Chek
iang south of Shanghai.
The broadcast, heard here, said
the incidents occurred on Feb. 1,
and Feb. 9.
One plane crashed in the sea
off the city of Yuhwan. The
other, with the marking 267,
crashed on land, “its pilot being
killed,” the broadcast said. It gave
no further details.
Man Kills Wife and Four
Children Before Taking
His Own Life
COLUMBUS, Ind., tP) — A 45
year - old former taxicab driver
killed his wife, his daughter and
three stepchildren as they slept
yesterday, prowled his silent
home for hours and then killed
himself.
The coroner said the five mem
bers of Kyde Ricketts’ family had
been dead from 12 to 24 hours
when the bodies were found last
night. The coroner said Ricketts
had killed them and spent sev
eral hours in the small house
alone before killing himself.
j Paroled Lifer
! Arrives Fairbanks
To Start New Life
FAIRBANKS, — There will
be no bed of roses in Alaska for
paroled lifer Herbert Spring —
they don’t grow them here, he
found yesterday.
The 67-year-old former convict
who served 47 years in Stateville
Penitentiary at Joliet, 111., before
being paroled last weekend, ar
rived here in 25-below-zero wea
ther. He was met by Ross Kim
ball, businessman who sponsored
Spring’s release and who has ar
ranged a job for him in this city.
The small, thin man who had
enjoyed but a relatively few
hours of freedom appeared ner
vous when he stepped from a
plane and was greeted by Kimball
and newsmen.
He put on the fur parka Kim
ball gave him and posed for pic
tures. His face brightened when
someone mentioned flowers.
“Do roses grow he-re in Alas
ka?” he asked. “They’re my fa
vorite flowers and I would like
to grow them.”
He was told that roses do not
thrive in northerly Alaska.
“I would like to try to develop
a hardy strain that would grow
here,” he said.
He gazed at the snow which i
covered the countryside and ask
ed how gardens do here. He was
told nothing grows in winter here
—except, as one newsman noted,
“a man’s yearning to be else
where.”
“I am going to make good
here,” Spring said. “I am not
going to disappoint anyone. A lot
of men are depending on me back
in the Illinois prison. If 'I make
good they will have a better
chance for parole.”
Kimball said Spring will be al
lowed to get the feel of being free
and settled down away from the
glare of publicity before being
shown his work.
—
House Committee Okays
Exempting First $1200
Income Retired Workers
WASHINGTON, UB—‘The House
Ways and Means Committee to
day approved tax cuts for mil
lions of retired workers, amoun
ing to about 300 million dollars
a year.
The committee adopted a provi
sion by Rep. Mason (R-Ill) exempt
ing the first $1,200 of annual
retirement income from personal
income taxes.
The exemption would apply to
all types of income — whether
from pensions, dividends, rents,
annuities, or other investments.
And it would apply regardless of
age to all retired workers, even
those below 65.
It would take effect with the
1954 tax bill which falls due in
early 1955.
The plan was approved as part
of a general revision of tax laws
Under present law, retirement
income gets no special treatment
except that generally a worker is
not taxed on pension or annuity
benefits which he himself pur
chased through regular contribu
tions.
Atom Specialist Publicly Discloses
For First Time Terrible Power Of
1952 Thermonuclear Weapons Test
Eisenhower Asks Congress,
For Authority Share Atom
Information with Allies
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower asked Congress Wed
nesday for authority to share lim
ited information on battlefield use
of atomic weapons with friendly
nations.
In a special message, the Presi
dent also asked for the right to
share peacetime atomic power
information with this country’s
allies and to give American pri
vate industry a greater share in
the development of nuclear pow
er.
Eisenhower said these steps
would have the effects of “streng
thening the defense and the econ
omy of the United States and of
the free world.”
The # President said the onward
rush of atomic developments has
outmoded the 1946 Atomic Ener
by Act which mistakenly assumed
the United States could maintain
a monopoly in atomic weapons
for an appreciable time.
Counterbalancing the loss of
monopoly, he said, is the develop
ment of a wide variety of atomic
weapons which have “achieved
conventional status” in the armed
forces.
April 15 To Be
Individual Tax
Deadline In 1954
WASHINGTON, UP)—1The House
Ways and Means Committee
agreed Tuesday to make April 15
the annual deadline for filing in
dividual tax returns, effective
next year.
The committee said in a state
ment that this change “will great
ly relieve the difficulties taxpay
ers presently have in preparing
their returns by the present filing
date" of March 15.
The new date would affect
some 55 million individual tax
payers. It was proposed in Presi
dent Eisenhower’s budget mes
sage to Congress as part of a gen
eral revision of tax laws.
The proposal would not affect
filing of returns this year on in
come earned in 1953. This year’s
returns will still be due by March
15th.
The new- schedule makes no
change in the March 15 filing date
for corporation income taxes. But
it extends to Sept. 15 the dead
line for filing of returns by tax
exempt cooperatives. The later
date for cooperatives coincides
with their last date for declaring
patronage dividends on the prior
year’s business.
Queen Mother Elizabeth To Visit
U.S. As Guest of Eisenhowers
LONDON, GP) — Queen Mother
Elizabeth will visit the United
States next fall as the guest of
President and Mrs. Eisenhower, a
Buckingham Palace spokesman
said Tuesday.
•> WASHINGTON, W>—A congres
sional atomic specialist hinted to
day the United States may have
hydrogen weapons even more
potent than a device that nearly
18 months ago tore a hole a mile
wide and 175 feet deep in the
floor of the Pacific Ocean.
Rep. W. Sterling Cole, chair
man of the Senate-House Atomic
Energy Committee, gave details
never before discussed publicly
of a 1952 thermonuclear test in
the Marshall Islands. President
Eisenhower has termed that test
a first step in the nation’s hydro
gen bomb program.
Cole said in a speech:
“That thermonuclear test of
1952 completely obliterated the
test island in the Eniwetok atoll.
“It tore a cavity in the floor
of the ocean—a crater measuring
a full mile in diameter and 175
feet in depth at its lowest point.
If this blast had been touched
off in a modern city, Cole said,
the resultant heat and blast would
have completely devastated an
area three miles in all directions
from the point of explosion.
In all, he said, the 1952 blast
would have blanketed an area of
300 square miles.
But this test was held almost a
year and a half ago, Cole said,
and he added:
“Security keeps me from com
menting on where our hydrogen
weapons program now stands, and
from outlining the directions in
which it is now moving. But I
can assure you that it is moving.”
Cole said he feels “It is more
sinful to conceal the power of
the atom than to reveal it.”
He referred ilidirectly to a re
cent remark by Secretary of De
fense Wilson, who told a news
conference he wished there was
less “atom rattling.”
Without mentioning Wilson by
name, Cole said:
“If telling the American peo
ple the facts about the a^m be
‘atom rattling’ then I con es my
guilt. My faith in the c. p of
the American people to .e up
to peril is boundless.”
Synthetic Antidote
Perfected For Treating
Frightening Nerve Gas
NEW YORK, (5V—1The life-sav
ing antidote'for frightening nerve
gas war now can be made arti
ficially, and there is already suf
ficient to treat 600 million per
sons, it was disclosed today.
The drug is Atropine, until now
obtained only from plants grown
mostly in iron curtain countries
controlled by Russia.
The synthetic drug, made with
chemicals from petroleum, frees
this country from dependence on
foreign supplies.
Nerve gas blocks or paralyzes
nerves causing death unless
quickly counteracted. Atropine is
the best known antidote, for it
neutralizes the paralyzing chemi
I cal in nerve gas.