__._ OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 22NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1955Per Copy—15*
11 DIE IN CRASH OF
NAVY PATROL PLANE
ON MOUNT SUSITNA
ANCHORAGE i/0—A flight sur
geon has arrived here from the
Kodiak Naval Air Station to di
rect removal of the 11 bodies
from the wreckage of a Navy
patrol bomber which crashed on
Mount Susitna, 35 miles west of
herd, Thursday night.
He and other Navy personnel
will fly to the scene when weath
er permits. Two Air Force para
medics reached the wreckage af
ter being landed by helicopter
above* the 2,000-foot level in the
peak. They remained overnight at
the scene last night.
The twin-engined Neptune, with
its crew of five, tour other Navy
fliers accumulating flight time,
and two enlisted men, crashed
into the peak on a flight from
Kodiak within minutes of reach
ing here.
Western Electric Co.
Named Prime Contractor
For DEW Line Project
WASHINGTON, T—The Air
Force today designated the West
ern Electric Co., Inc., as prime
contractor for the DEW line,” a
radar warning system to be con
structed from Alaska across the
upper part of Canada.
The project was dubbed “DEW”
line from the initials of its more
formal title, Distant Early Warn
ing System.
Western Electric, the manufac
turing and supply unit of the Bell
Telephone System, was the con
tractor for the pilot project for
the DEW line in the Barter Island
area of Alaska.
The Canadian and U.S. govern
ments announced last November
that both countries would partici
pate in the “DEW” project but
that responsibility for the con
struction would be vested in the
United States.
When completed, the DEW line
and United States listening posts
in Greenland will be able to pick
up aircraft approaching the North
American Continent across the
arctic—the short route from the
U.S.S.R.
Nationalists Rain
Blows on Reds in
Taislians Area
TAIPEH, Formosa, UP)—Three
straight days of Nationalist air at
tacks have failed to stop the Red
buildup of the Taishan Islaifds
threatening nearby Nanchishan,
reliable reports said today.
A second Communist building
! has begun on the Fukien Province
I coast opposite the strategic Matsu
j Islands 100 miles west of For
1 mosa, the Defense Ministry’s in
| formation service said.
Meanwhile Nationalist officials
set up 26 civil air defense centers
here to work out plans to mini
mize bombing casualties if war
comes.
These developments followed
three straight days of naval and
aerial pounding of the Taishan
: group and nearby waters in which
j the Nationalists now claim these
totals:
Friday—1 submarine, 21 gun
; boats, landing craft and armed
j junks sunk.
| Saturday—15 armed junks sunk,
| 5 damaged.
Sunday—One 1,000-ton gunboat
| “disappeared” after a direct hit,
1 5 landing ships hit, 1 probably
| sunk.
In addition, waves of National
| ist warplanes struck again at the
j Taishans through Sunday night,
blasting military installations and
possibly blowing up an ammuni
tion dump, air force headquarters
announced.
Russia Claims Atomic
Scientists Will Change
Arctic to Subtropics
LONDON, UP Russia claimed to
day her atomic scientists will
some day be able to make the
frozen north as warm as France.
“The tundras will disappear,
the subtropical areas will reach
the central part of the country,
and the climate of the Kolyma
region \Vill be the same as, for
instance, in France, “Moscow said.
The Kolyma region is on about
j the same latitude as northern Al
aska.
Thousands of New Yorkers Watch
# *
Police Battle Criminal to Death
NEW YORK, (jPi—A lone, angry *
criminal, who flung defiance and
bullets at the world until the last,
lay dead on a slab at the police
morgue today—the only was he
* said they could get him.
- Thousands of people, estimated
up to 100,000 at times, jammed
• streets, rooftops and other van
tage points yesterday to watch
the blazing, 90-minute battle that
cut down scrubby August Robles.
He made his last stand in an
east Harlem tenement house. The
massed forces of the law—guns,
gas and 200 policemen—closed in
on him. They carried his body out
of the smoking house in a sack.
Today, with the wild drama
over and the thickly populated
uptown neighborhood back to
workaday routine, this note on a
police blotter told the end of the
story:
“August Robles, 44 years, male,
white, address unknown, dead on
arrival at 67 East 112 St., Apt. 14.
Subject died of gunshot wounds
of chest during a gun battle with
police. No known friends or rela
tives.”
The last hours of squint-eyed,
• little Robles had the frenzied
•
crowd psychology of a scene in an
ancient Roman colosseum. Excit
ed shouts echoed up and down
the streets amid the staccato of
gunfire and thump of tear gas
bombs.
Not since an army of police
drove another law-hating crimin
al, Francis Crowley, to bay 24
years ago had New York wit
nessed such a show of violence.
Like Robles, Crowly had sworn
never to be taken alive. But un
like Robles, he was brought out
of his tenement house bastion
alive, after his ammunition was
exhausted. He was later executed.
The pint-sized gunman had been
the object of an intense, three
day manhunt in the city’s Puerto
Rican districts.
Police, rankled by the memory
of his two escapes Friday, were
determined to get their man.
Police originally went out to
arrest Robles to question him
about the gangland slaying of
ex-convict Joseph Aronowitz in
Brooklyn last Tuesday. Aronowitz
was killed the day before he was
to go on trial in Baltimore, Md.,
for attempted robbery.
Adm. Radford Says
No Invasions Possible
Across Formosa Strait
WASHINGTON, (JV-Adm. Ar
thur W. Radford said today that
as of now there can be no success
ful invasion across the Formosa
Strait—either way—and that “it
is a situation I think can be sta
bilized.”
“There will be a lot of talking
on both sides, but it can be stabil
ized,” the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff said in a copy
righted interview with the maga
zine U.S. News and World report.
“I think both sides know they
cannot invade each other.”
The Chinese Communists have
repeatedly threatened to conquer
Formosa, refuge of Chiang Kai
shek’s Nationalist government.
Chiang, in turn, has vowed to re
turn to the mainland.
Radford said he thinks Chiang’s
ground forces can repel any Red
invasion attempt with the prom
ised aid of U.S. air and sea power,
and that the Nationalist leader
cannot invade the mainland with
out American aid.
Governor's Move
On Controversial
Appointments Bill
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, (iP—It was decision
day for Gov. Heintzleman today
on the controversial appointments
measure, with a mid-afternoon
deadline on whether to veto or
allow it to become law without
his signature.
The governor has never vetoed
a bill and has given no indication
of his plans. The proposal would
enable the legislature to make ap
pointments of its own if it dis
liked a gubernatorial one and re
fused twice to confirm it.
The executive was host to the
predominantly Democratic House
of Representatives at a buffet
supper at the executive mansion
over the weekend.
The measure was passed orig
inally strictly on party lines, 21
Democrats to 3 Republicans in the
House and 12 Democrats to 4 Re
publicans in the Senate.
Principal arguments for the
measure, which was introduced
by Rep. Burke Riley <D-Haines),
have been that the legislature
should have closer control over
appointments as the governor is
an appointee himself and is not
so directly responsible to the peo
ple.
385 Dead or Missing
As Violent Blizzard
Blasts Western Pacific
TOKYO, —A violent blizzard
blasted the western Pacific from
Formosa to the Kuriles today for
the third day and left more than
385 persons dead or missing, most
of them fishermen.
At least four Japanese are
known dead and scant hope is
held for the others.
In Manila, American President
Lines reported that the luxury
liner President Cleveland went to
the aid of the stricken Japanese
steamship Midori Maru in the
East China Sea.
Another inter-island steamer,
the Nanshu Maru with 171 aboard
was awaiting help from the U.S.
seaplane tender Salisbury Sound
: which was sent out from Okina
wa. A Japanese freighter stood by.'
U.N. Command Accuses Communists
Of Violating Korean Armistice
-1
U.S. ENGINEER WILL
CONFER IN TOKYO ON
PULP MILL FOR SITKA
TOKYO, OP)—Harold D. Cavin,;
an American construction engi- j
neer, is scheduled to visit Tokyo;
in April to confer with a Japanese j
firm on the construction of a pulp
mill in Sitka, Alaska.
Cavin, who has designed large
pulp plants in the U.S. and Japan,
will meet with officials of the
Alaskan Pulp Co. of Tokyo. The
proposed plant would cost be
tween 30 and 40 million dollars.
Construction is expected to be
gin this year.
Raymond Paul Leads
In 100-Mile Dog Race
At Fur Rendezvous
ANCHORAGE, (JV-Cutting five
minutes off his running time Sat
urday, Raymond Paul of Galena,
last year’s champion, took a 15
minute lead yesterday at the end |
of the second 257-mile lap of the
100-mile Fur Rendezvous dog
race.
Paul and his team were timed j
at 2 hours, 14 minutes, 9 seconds!
for a total elapsed time for the |
two days of 4 hours, 33 minutes, j
10 seconds.
An Anchorage woman racer, j
Kit Maclnnes, was in second j
place with an elapsed time of 4 '
hours, 48 minutes, 56 seconds.
Clem Tellman, Knik, was third
with a total time of 5 hours, 17 j
seconds.
.
Property Tax Up
For Major Test
In Alaska House
By JIM HUTCHESON
JUNEAU, (A*>—Up for a major j
test in the Alaska House of Rep
resentatives today will be the re
vised General Property Tax
measure. It would apply the one I
percent property tax outside cit
ies and taxing districts for the
benefit of a special rural school
district fund.
The measure comes up on sec
ond reading and sentiment has
grown to replace it with an out- j
right property registration law for
rural areas. It has lost support, |
sponsors admit, on the grounds 1
that it would cost so much to ad- !
minister in such a vast area as |
Alaska.
Tax Commissioner Karl Dewey j
has estimated that it would prob- ■
ably bring in around $800,000 i
during the biennium but that the ;
costs of assessing and collecting it1
the first biennium would run to
$300,000 or more while the initial
job of getting all property on the
books was tackled.
One legislator expressed the
opinion this weekend that he has
changed from a one-time position
Of property tax exponent to oppo
nent. He said so much more prop
erty is included in public utility
districts now than when the origi
nal property tax was enacted in
1949 that it would result in a
sharp cut in revenue prospects.
However, one experienced sen
ator who has been working ac
tively on trying to balance the
budget remarked Saturday that it
looks as though the legislature
had better start looking seriously
for more new tax revenue to sup
port the General Fund.
> PANMUNJOM, Korea, (3—'The
United Nations Command today
accused the Communists of vio
lating the Korean armistice by
building up Red Mig strength in
North Korea.
It demanded those responsible
be punished.
Maj. Gen. Leslie D. Carter,
senior Allied member of the Kor
ean Military Armistice Commis
sion, made the charge. He de
clared the Migs which attacked
an American RB-45 jet reconnais
sance bomber over the Yellow
Sea on Feb. 5 were evidence of
Red air activities in North Korea
since the armistice which “have
mounted from zero in increasing
magnitude to a high tempo.”
At a news conference after the
commission meeting, Carter quot
ed the chief Communist delegate.
North Korean Lt. Gen. Lee Sang
Cho, as saying the U.N. charges
were “allegations hastily manu
factured.”
Carter quoted Lee: “The his
tory of the Korean War proves
the fact that we had combat air
craft in North Korea . . . how we
maintain the planes and how
many we have is our own business
and no concern of others.”
Lee accused the Allied side of
expanding army and aircraft
strength in South Korea and of
“covering up the crime by making
false allegations,” Carter said.
Today’s charge grew out of the
air battle on Feb. 5 when two
Migs were shot down after they
attacked the RB-45 and its escort
ing Sabre jets.
Carter demanded three neutral
nations mobile inspection teams
go to North Korea to look for
evidence of the Migs and their
armament.
CAA OFFICIAL DIES
WASHINGTON, WV- Robert D.
McCree, 60, chief of the overseas
planning branch of the Civil Aer
onautics Administration and for
merly an associate professor at
the University of Alaska, died
Saturday of a heart attack.
A 1917 graduate of the Univer
sity of Alaska, he served as an
Army officer in World War I and
then went to Alaska, where he
spent many years.
Somebody Goofed
On Nome School
Addition Plans
Local leaders who contacted
Mr. Houston, Alaska Public
Works regional director at Ju
neau, have found out that the
architectural work on the Nome
School Addition has been only 25
per cent completed. As a result
it will not be possible, according
to the report, to start work on the
addition this fall as planned, be
cause the contracts have not been
let and they will not be offered
for several months.
It is believed that the failure
to complete the architectural
plans is in violation of the agree
ment with the city.
The Nome School Board held
a special meeting at noon today
and have sent telegrams to the
2nd Division legislators and to
the architect for investigation
and action.
Mayor Andersen stated that the
City of Nome is also wiring for
information.