NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVII No. 152 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1955_Per Copy—15^
Mildred Hermann
To Hold Hearing
Here On Dec. 28
Mildred Hermann, delegate at
large to the Constitutional Con
vention, arrived yesterday to
spend the Christmas holiday with
her son, Russell Hermann, and
family.
Mrs. Hermann reports that
there has not been a vote on any
section of the constitution pend
ing hearings in all parts of the
territory during the holiday re
cess. She will conduct a hearing
here on Dec. 28 with the coopera
tion of the Chamber of Commerce
in a place to be selected by
President Fred Langsam.
She said that it is important
that not only adults but high
school students be selected to at
tend the meeting as it is the con
stitution which will govern them.
Mrs. Hermann declared that the
group working on the constitution
are a harmonious delegation with
a common cause—a good consti
tution, and that with the ages of
the delegates ranging from 29 to
82 it is an interesting congregation
of Alaskans.
Volunteers Fill Xmas
Stockings For Children’s
Santa Party Saturday
Last evening 16 volunteer work
ers filled hundreds of Christmas
stockings for the Community
Christmas Tree Santa Claus party
to be held in the school auditor
ium Saturday morning from 10
a.m. until 1 p.m. The party is
for pre-school children and school
children through the fourth grade.
Mrs. Mary Andersen, chairman
of the committee, said that the
good cheer baskets to needy fam
ilies will be delivered today and
that all students in school will
receive a surprise in their class
rooms at school this afternoon.
The Community Christmas Tree
program will start this evening at
8 o’clock at the Nome School au
ditorium. The tree was contrib
uted by Wien Airlines and after
the program it will be moved to
Front Street by the Volunteer
Firemen.
Cardinal Spellman Takes
Ride In Jet In Japan
TOKYO, UP)—Francis Cardinal
Spellman of New York, took a
short hop in a U.S. Air Force T33
jet trainer today.
Spellman, in the Far East on
his fifth consecutive Christmas
tour of U. S. military installa
tions, flew over the area while
visiting nearby Yokota Air Base.
At Yokota, the Cardinal visited
and talked with U.S. airmen, cele
brated a noon mass.
A WOMAN'S PREROGATIVE
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., UP) —
Christmas tree salesmen got a
yuletide demonstration this week
of a woman’s right to change her
mind.
A woman brought back a tree
she had bought. She wanted to
exchange it, she said, because it
somehow didn’t seem to fit into
her living room.
The salesman told her to take
her choice, and she started a tour
of the trees. While she was look
ing, the tree she had returned was
replaced among those on display.
Circling through the forest of
Christmas trees, she finally picked
out one she liked—the same one
she had brought back for ex
change.
Former Nome Doctor’s
Car Strikes and Kills
Willie Mitchell of Candle
SEATTLE, UP) — A pedestrian
struck and killed by an auto
mobile as he crossed the Seattle
Tacoma Highway Wednesday
evening was identified through
fingerprints Thursday as Willie E.
Mitchell, 26, an Eskimo from
Candle, Alaska.
State Patrolman George Loss
said Mitchell was hit by a car
driven by Dr. Floyd J. O’Hara
55, of Vancouver, Wash.
Loss said O’Hara reported he
saw Mitchell and applied his
brakes. He said the car was near- ■
ly past Mitchell when it suddenly
skidded and the rear of ,the ma
chine hit Mitchell.
Ed. Note: Dr. O’Hara was for
merly in Nome, practicing at the
old Maynard Columbus Hospital
in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.
France Pledges 60,000
More Soldiers To Deal
With Violence In Algiers
ALGIERS, Algeria, UP)—Killing
and violence continued in Algeria
today as France pledged 60,000
more soldiers to deal with the
situation. That will probably com
mit as many French troops as
were used at one time in Indo
china.
The step coincides with the
most violent period in Algeria
since independence - seeking Na
tionalists started their insurrec
tion in earnest 3 months ago. In
the past two weeks the death toll
has passed 200 and in the last
24 hours the best unofficial esti
mate of deaths is about 40.
With the French election cam
paign in full swing, Nationalist
rebels have apparently decided to
make their biggest effort. The
Algerian problem is already a big
factor in the election and grow
ing daily.
Heaviest fighting in the past 24
hours occurred in the 6,000-foot
peaks of the Djurdura Mountains,
where a strong rebel band was
entrenched.
Floods Devastate
o I
Oregon, Nevada,
And California
SAN FRANCISCO, (^»—Devas
tating floods spread south of San
Francisco to Santa Cruz and east
to Reno, Nev., today, bringing the
known death toll to nine in north
ern California and three in Ore
gon.
Santa Cruz, a resort city of
22,000, reported three dead, 12
missing and 300 to 400 as victims
of exposure.
The rain-laden Truckee River
swelled over its banks in Reno,
cutting the city in two and start
ing a rampage of damage in the
downtown section.
Gale-driven rains continued to
beat the coast from Oregon south
ward, feeding gorged rivers that
already have smashed five vil
lages into rubble.
San Francisco police today re
ceived a direct message from po
lice of Santa Cruz, 75 miles south
of San Francisco, listing the cas
ualty toll and saying:
“Santa Cruz in dire need of
help. 300 - 400 exposure victims
need blankets and help.”
Water began seeping through
sandbag barricades at the River
side Hotel in Reno, heading into
the casino, bar and lobby.
Thousands of workers who live
on the south side of the river
were cut off from their jobs as
all traffic across Reno’s eight
bridge was shut down.
In Oregon, colder temperatures
stopped the melting snow in the
mountains. Only moderate rain
fell this morning. The South Ump
qua River dropped nine feet at
Roseburg overnight.
Five villages stricken in the
northwest corner of California lay
empty. Their residents had fled
from waters rising from a record
week of storms.
The communities were: Pepper
wood, Elinor, Weott, Klamath and
Klamath Glen, all on the raging
Eel and Klamath rivers which
pour into the Pacific high on Cali
fornia’s north coast.
CHRISTMAS PROGRAM AT SCHOOL TONIGHT
Tonight at 8:00 p.m., in the school gym, the Nome
School will present an outstanding Christmas Program,
designed especially for your enjoyment. The program
will consist of the following:
Oh, Come All Ye Faithful.Brass Group
The Twelve Days of Christmas .... Chorus, Grades 4 & 5
Jingle Bells Rhapsody . Band
Play—Christmas Broadcast at
Squashville School.Students from all 8 grades
Christmas Reverence . Band
Angels We Have Heard on High.Band and Chorus
Whence Comes This Rush of Wings .... Band and Chorus
Silent Night.Band
These are the names of the children in the cast of
tonight’s play, “Christmas Broadcast at Squashville
School”:
Jimmie Mays plays the part of
Miss Grimes; Douglas Lee is Al
onzo; Rosemary Barber, Alice; Ju
lius Pleasant, Robert MacDoodle,
Johnny Payenna, Charles; Pamela
Mulvihill, Clara Topbottom; Rich
ard Young, Sam, William Nuipok,
Franklin Pinfeather; Carol Doyle,
Mirandy Gooseberry; Merrill
Swim, Dottie; Mary Ann Hoyle,
Susie; Myron Mecklenburg, Fred
die; Lois Okitkon, Lottie Andrews;
Pepper Gray, Albert Dinglepaugh;
Don Pierce, Scrooge; Charles Bur
nett, Bob Cratchit; Ruth Otton,
Mrs. Cratchit; Grant Doyle, Fred,
Scrooge’s nephew; Ann Chambers,
Fred’s wife; Alan August, Tiny
Tim; Betty Ann Hoogendom, Pol
ly Green; Esther Tobuk, Mary
Scott; Edna Johnsen, Sally Pud
dlefoot; Bobbie Cannon, 1st ghost;
Robert Oksoktaruk, 2nd ghost;
Billy Muller, 3rd ghost.
For an evening of friendly yuletide spirit, be the
guest of the school and attend their Christmas Program.
They will be expecting you.
Paratrooper Spends Four Agonizing
Days In Snow-Covered Cascade Mts.
<
i CAB Proposes 60 Percent
Reduction In Mail
Subsidy For Pan Am
WASHINGTON, (#> — The Civil
Aeronautics Board proposed today
a reduction of about 60 per cent
in the mail subsidy of Pan Ameri
can World Airways.
Under the Board’s plan for put
ting the company’s entire system
on a permanent mail rate basis,
Pan American would receive a
subsidy of about $9,850,000 an
nually, beginning Jan. 1. This
compares with $22,231,000 in 1954
and $28,163,000 for 1953.
The subsidy is in addition to
“service mail pay.” This is what
airlines receive for actually trans
porting mail. The Board estimated
Pan American’s service mail pay
at about 14 million dollars year
ly under the proposed permanent
rate system. This would give the
company a total of about $23,441,
000 annually in service mail pay
and subsidy.
The Board proposed,' however, to
cut Pan American’s total compen
sation in 1955 to $16,120,000. This
was done by deducting $7,319,000
from total compensation figure.
The Board said Pan American had
gains of the amount of the reduc
tion from sale of flight equipment
and securities.
The Board said recent improve
ment in traffic had reduced the
subsidy requirement of the Pan
American systerrt and that of other
U.S. air carriers to a new low.
Says Administration Will
Balance Budget Only
For The 1956 Elections
WASHINGTON, UP) — Senator
Sparkman (D-Ala) said today the
Eisenhower administration wants
a balanced budget just before the
1956 elections, but “doesn’t care”
how much red ink spending there
is the following year.
He referred in an interview to
administration proposals for a bil
lion dollar boost in military out
lays, a 200 million dollar increase
in foreign aid spending, and in
creased funds for health, schools
and roads.
He said he sees no way those
administration goals can be ac
complished without incurring a
deficit in the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1957, and added:
“All of these proposals the ad
ministration has been making re
cently will not affect the budget
for the current year (ending June
30). They want to balance the
budget then for political purposes
and they don’t care how much
they spend after that.”
NOME STUDENTS ARRIVE
FOR HOLIDAY AT HOME
Among the students arriving
home for Christmas holidays are
Kathy Jackson, from Santa Bar
bara, Calif.; Mary Jeanne Boucher
from Portlnd, Ore.; June Dunbar
and Loretta Snyder from Seattle,
and Robert Summers from Fair
banks.
Gordon Swanberg, USN, tried
to surprise his family by arriv
ing home from San Diego foi
the Christmas holiday.
Mary Jo Swanberg is expected
home for Christmas from Fair
banks.
Aileen Tweet arrived enroute to
Teller and her brother, Glenn, is
expected today or tomorrow.
p By ELMER C. VOGEL
EASTON, Wash., WV-Sgt. John
Horan’s feet were blistered and
swollen, He was weary and cold
beyond belief or endurance. But
there was the road, and an inn,
and two men.
“They looked up and I knew
everything was going to be all
right.”
And that was the way the 25
year-old paratrooper from May
nard, Mass., described the last
moments of the longest four days
he ever spent—four days in snow
clad Cascade Mountain foothills
into which he plunged on a para
chute from a temporarily disabled
plane.
The story he told of his fight
for survival was an epic combin
ation of pluck, luck and training.
Plus a determination to see again
his Japanese wife, Teruko, and
their three small children who
landed in Seattle Tuesday from
Japan.
It was Sunday afternoon about
1:30 p.m. when he jumped from
an Air Force C-54 on the pilot’s
orders. The plane had gone into
a flat spin at 12,000 feet. Horan
bailed out at 10,000 and the plane
righted itself before others aboard
had to jump.
After he landed he began hik
ing, sinking to his hips in snow
eight feet deep. All night he
floundered through the drifts un
til he spotted a cabin in the
woods, at a point about four
miles south of where he landed.
Inside the cabin he found some
matches and started a fire. He
found some cocoa, the only food
in the place, and melted snow to
make himself a drink. Warmed
and strengthened, he thought of
getting out of the woods—encour
aged by the distant roar of trucks
winding through the steep Sno~
qualmie Pass road.
He started out on rude snow
shoes made of shingles and got
only 500 feet before his feet and
snowshoes gave out. Back to the
cabin and a night’s sleep.
Tuesday his luck was no better,
the distance traveled no greater
before his tortured feet gave up
and he went back to the cabin.
The third day he knew there
could be no turning back. All
afternoon and night he floundered
along. Toward midday yesterday
the truck noises began getting
closer and louder.
“Then, he said, “I knew I was
going to make it. The rain got
worse and I got colder, but my
hopes were rising.”
Around a bend and there were
men he had heard talking, and the
inn, and by chance a doctor who
had stopped to fix a broken tire
chain. The inn was three and a
half miles from the cabin in the
woods.
After emergency treatment for
frostbite, a rest and some food,
the sergeant talked by phone with
his happy wife.
Later an ambulance took him to
the Army’s Madigan General Hos
pital at Ft. Lewis, 40 miles south
west of Seattle.
All children in Nome from 1 lo
12 years old are inviied lo be the
guests of lhe personnel of Nome
Field a± a Thealer Parly on Sat
urday at 1:15 p.m.
Transportation will be provided
by bus at the Alaska Cab stand.