puiari*
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOLUME XXVIII. NUMBER 45.
SEWARD, ALASKA,
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24. 1932.
PRICE TEN CENTS
9 MEN WHO COME AND
GO IN THE NIGHT
The train is creeping at a snail’s
pace. A passenger, having exhaust
ed all channels o f conversation
turns and says to the man across
the aisle:
"What’s the matter, this creep
ing along? Why don’t they speed
up. If I was the government, . .
But let him step out in front and
meet the men who come and go in
the night, share their hazards,
hardships and herculean labors,
and he will snug himself down in
his upholstered seat, glowing with
the warmth and comfort of mod
em luxury and indulge a little
meditation.
Few of those who travel the rail
* road from Alaska to the Atlantic
seaboard, have any conception of
the responsibilities and labors
which fall to the lot of the "snow
hogs.” It is their duty to keep the
road open. In so doing they gamble
with life every mile in a moun
tainous country where a slide may
follow the breaking of the apron
of a great mass of snow and ice,
reaching far up into the towering
valley and hills.
* The “snowhogs" are the van
guard of the army which main
tains rapid transit in northern lat
itudes .... verily the shock troops
hammering away at the embattle
ments of grim nature. Others may
remain in quarters, loiter aboard
comfortable coaches and fret at
s delays, but the snow crews oper
ate like men with orders to take a
fortification at all costs. Many
times these costs are akin to those
of real war.
The premier test of the stamina
and resourcefulness of the snow
fleet of The Alaska Railroad is be
ing imposed this winter—now—and
the battle is raging. For the first
time in the history of the railroad,
it has been necessary to send the
* monster rotaries into the northern
division.
Thus with the accustomed oper
ating mileage doubled it has been
necessary for the snow fleet to
lose track of hours, sleep and in
many cases warm meals in ham
mering back the encroachment of
immense drifts, clear deep cuts
and make the railroad safe for
travel. These shocks troops have
• been for days on end working 16
hours a day before a rest period
comes and they may stack their
arms and take the legal hours of
rest accorded by law.
By herculean efforts the scant
force left after drastic retrench
ments have kept The Alaska Rail
road open while such lines as the
Copper River and Northwestern
have been compelled to close ow
ing to the unprecedented snowfall.
One who has never ridden upon
the rotary or sat in the cab of a
+ great flanger or plow has an ex
perience coming which few would j
care to repeat. With the drivers j
from one of the three monster!
engines roaring and racing as the
plow comes to grips with the great j
drift, anything can happen- Onlyj
v the engineer and those experienc
ed in the work can tell if the i
wheels are on the track or if the
plow and engines are ready to
buckle and roll down the escarp
ment of the hill along which the
rails are laid.
Here is where courage and skill J
of the highest order is required.j
, And it is there in abundance with |
the snow fleet which makes it pos
sible for the passenger to glide
along comfortably, if at times
slowly.
DEMPSEY GETS A WIN
„ LOUISVILLE, Ky., Feb. 24. (/P)—
Jack Dempsey easily outpointed
Frankie Wine, Butte blacksmith, in
an exhibition fight here- Newspa
per men made the decision. Demp
sey battered Wine at will for the j
entire four rounds.
SENSATIONAL FINISH
ASHTON, Ida., Feb. 24. (A5)—Don
Cordinglv, 17. of Ashton, won the
1 American Dog Derby of 25 miles in
one hour, 59 minutes and 18 sec
onds. He overtook Delber Groom j
of Rigby at the finish, beating him ‘
r> by one second.
!
HOSTILITIES IN CITY
ey II BRIEF LOLL
CHINESE DON’T FEEL RESPON
SIBLE FOR SHELLING OF
ITALIAN SHIP
SHANGHAI, Feb. 24. (TP)—In re
j ply to the Italian protest to the
I Chinese for the striking of their
I ship, the Libia, by a shell fired by
j the Chinese over the International
i Settlement, the Chinese authorities
i felt that they could not be held re
; sponsible for the incident as long
I as the Japanese continue to use
j the International Settlement to
i further their military operations
i in Shanghai.
j The fighting Tuesday was not as
severe as it has been for the last
! several days. The Chinese column
! succeeded in recovering some of
| the gains which were made by the
| Japanese in their Monday offen
sive.
Artillery fire was resumed after
the Chinese defenders had halted
the Japanese attack and coped
with their flanking movement. The
Japanese were forced to retreat and
announced that they will await the
arrival of reinforcements from Ja
pan before they launch another in
tensive offensive. The Japanese,
while awaiting the arrival of ad
ditional soldiers, seemed content
with mopping up on snipers.
Japanese General Uyeda has is
sued a statement wherein he de
clared that the Japanese had found
the section which they directed
their flanking attack unusually
| strong and with unusually heavy
barbed wire entanglements. He
further said that there was no need
for haste as this v/ould merely mean
i a waste of soldiers. He said that
j the entanglements vtill be bom
j barded from the air to make them
J easier to penetrate in the next of
I tensive.
It is estimated that with the
| Chinese reinforcements which have
i been coming in steadily to Shang
| hai that the Chinese soldiers now
J number between 60,000 and 70.000
j soldiers.
1 Official confirmation was made
^by the Chinese military authorities
jthat- they had succeeded in bring
i ing down a Japanese pursuit plane.
The planes occupant was identified
by his uniform as a captain.
It is understood that reinforce
ments numbering 30,000 to 40,000
soldiers are being sent from Japan
and should arrive in Shanghai in
three or four days. The Japanese
will await these reinforcements be
they continue their offensive.
GARNER, ROOSEVELT
QUALIFY PRESIDENTIAL
PRIMARY NEXT MONTH
ALBANY, N. Y„ Feb. 24. (>P)—
Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, of
New York, and Speaker John N.
Garner, of Texas, formally quali
fied for the general Presidential
preference primary on March 23.
Governor “Alfalfa Bill” Murry, of
Oklahoma, whose $1,000 fee was re
ceived by telegraph, but whose ac
tual application failed to reach the
executive committee on time, was
declared disqualified. Murry’s ap
plication was sent by airmail Sat
urday, and Garner’s name was en
tered indirectly by Judge Gus How
ard, of Atlanta.
Murry’s reaction at Oklahoma
City was of anger. He said that
there appeared to be a design to
keep his name out, but he would
stump the State anyway and ask
his friends to put his name on the
official ballot. j
NOTED SINGER DIES
BERLIN, Feb- 24. (JP)—Madame;
Johanna Gadski, noted opera sing-1
er, died from injuries received in I
an automobile accident.
! SEATTLE VOTERS SHOW
! MUCH INTEREST IN THE
j ELECT! OP MAYOR
j SEATTLE, Feb- 24. (/P)—John F.
I Dore, prominent criminal attorney,
j polled twice as many votes as his
j next candidate, in a record break
! mg primary for Mayor Tuesday.
f Robert H. Harlin, incumbent and
nationally known coal miners’
■ union leader, was also nominated,
i Final choice will be made by Seat
j tie voters in the election in March.
In the ballotting, Dore received
145,653 votes; Harlin, 22,626; Frank
! Edwards, who was recalled last July,
; 17,339; Councilman Otto Case, 12,
1 508; Arthur J. Ritchie, former man
; aging editor of the Seattle Star,
8,479; Vic Meyers, orchestra leader
; whose humorous antics drew na
1 tional attention, 4,798, and three
; other candidates polled a lesser
number of votes.
i Dore, as defense attorney, hand
j led some of the most sensational
murder cases in the Northwest in
; recent years. He was twice upheld
| by the State Supreme Court in
| fights with law examiners who at
| tempted to bar him.
CONVICTED SLAYER DECLARES
SnE WILL TELL THE
WHOLE STORY
—
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24. (JP)—The
t Examiner here published a letter
purported to be from Winnie Ruth
Judd, alleging that she had an ac
i complice in the slaying of her two
| friends last October.
The letter which was,published
leaving the names blank, read as
follows: “I insist (blank) be ar
' rested before Judge Speakman sen
I fences me.”
Judge Howard Speakman, of the
Phoenix court, heard her case
j wherein it was alleged that a man
; came to her house and saw the
t bodies. He told her that he wTould
! send for a truck to take them out
into the desert. Later he told her
she had better take the bodies to
Los Angeles. Mrs. Judd is alleged
to have said that after the man
aided her that far, he deserted her.
Mrs. Judd also declared that she
had borrowed the money to go to
Los Angeles. She also said she in
tended to tell the whole story.
HOPE TO SET NEW MARK
OLD ORCHARDS. Me., Feb. 24.
(/P)—Headed for Buenos Aires in
an effort to break the world’s dis
tance record, Nate C. Browne, for
mer Army flier, and Edward Mul
downey, said to be the flight back
er, took off at 8:53 a. m., Eastern
Standard Time; they carried 1.022
gallons of fuel.
QUEBEC, Feb. 24. (/P)—“Shorty”
Russick of Manitoba won the first
49-mile run of the three-day Que
bec Dog Derby in three hours, 29
minutes and 15 seconds.
Emil Stoddard of Manitoba was
a minute behind him.
Leonard Seppala of Nome finish
ed third, four minutes behind.
Russick had the disadvantage of
being an early starter over only a
partly broken trail.
SUCCESSFUL OPERATION
HOLLYWOOD, Feb. 24. (A5)—Eric
von Stroheim, movie director and
actor, successfully underwent a,
-second tumor operation Tuesday, j
He will remain in the hospital for |
about 10 days.
GOVERNMENT ANXIOUS OVER
LENGTH OF TIME TAKEN
ACCOMPLISH TASK
SHANGHAI, Feb. 24. (IP) — The
Japanese today made another drive
against the Kiangwan line blit fail
ed to budge the Chinese defenders.
Their attack on Kiangwan was but
of short duration as the Japanese
suddenly shifted the brunt of their
offensive from there to the Chapei
sector where they were aided by a
landing force from a Japanese war
s'.-.ip in the river. The landing
party also opened up an attack on
the Chapei sector.
Severe fighting followed through
| out the afternoon and a heavy
bombardment preceded the thrust
at the Kiangwan line.
Two Chinese airplanes dropped a
number of bombs in the vicinity of
the Japanese military headquarters
and only missed the main buildings
by about 100 feet. The Japanese
are using eight bombers and are
dropping 250-pound explosives on
the Chinese, who are holding then
own and are even fighting back so
hard that they have thrust the Jap
anese back in some of the sectors.
The Chinese, in the most recent
I engagements with the Japanese,
i have made a better showing than
| at any time since the Chinese re
| fused to comply with the Japanese
I ultimatum.
j From Tokyo reports came that
the Japanese government was anx
ious at the failure of General Uye
:7a’s forces to dislodge the Chinese.
! It had been previously thought that
| it would take but a few weeks for
| the Japanese forces to complete
| their Shanghai task but it now ap
' pears that their campaign will of
j necessity have to be extended to
j several weeks.
The prediction also came that
Japan w’ould send a full-fledged
general to succeed Lieutenant Gen
eral Uyeda to take command of
the Japanese attack force.
Japanese newspapers have been
placed under a strict censorship
and the people are being kept ig
norant of the failures in the Shang
hai campaign.
Yesterday, the Japanese officials
refused to let newspaper men to go
inside their lines, saying they re
ported false news. This action was
taken by the Japanese officials
after stories of their ruthless kill
ings of peasants, women and child -
ren had been printed.
The Japanese officials also said
the reason many had been shot
thru the back was because they
ran. They further said that some
mistakes had occurred which “were ;
regrettable.”
SLASHINS ATTACKS BY
JiPS UNSUCCESSFUL:
LOST FIVE AIRPLANES |
SHANGHAI, Feb. 24. (JP) — The |
Chinese fought off a series of slash- •
ing Japanese attacks along the en-1
tire front of the Chapei and Kiang- j
wan area, meeting every drive with j
bullets and bayonets. Both sides,
sustained heavy losses.
The Japanese only success was
the destruction of a Chinese air
drome at Hungjoa where all the
hangars and planes were destroyed.
Wave after wave of Japanese
were thrown back onto each other
throughout the day and the Jap
anese appeared to be no nearer
their goal than when the battle
started. Chinese machine guns
mowed down the Japs as they ad
vanced and the Japs were unable
to dislodge the gunmen.
Two Japanese airplanes were j
brought down by Chinese anti-air- :
craft guns at Chenju on Monday.
Tuesday, three Japanese planes
were shot down west of Shanghai. \
i GENEVA, Feb. 24. (/P)—A Japan
ese program calling for prohibition
jof aerial bombardment of towns
! and cities was presented to the
World Disarmament Conference
j while warfare between China and
Japan raged in the Yangtze delta.
Japan’s plan, submitted to the
| conference secretarist for publica
i tion on Tuesday, called for prohi
| bition of all aerial attacks on civil
ians and provided for strong guar
j antees against possible violation of
J obligations of any disarmament
i treaty by one or more countries.
, This clause was obviously intended
! to guard against the possibility of
j China or Russia signing for disar
1 mament and then acting contrary
| to the terms of the agreement.
—-—-—
THRILL SEEKING
AMERICAN ELIES
TSIED BIG TASK
EMPLOY OF CHINESE GOVERN
MENT ATTACKS SIX JAP
AIRPLANES
SHANGHAI, Feb. 24. (JP)—Robert
Short, adventure-loving American,
aged about 26 years, was shot down
here when he engaged in combat
with three Japanese bombers and
three pursuit planes.
Short, who was in the employ of
the Chinese government and was
to receive $1,000 for each plane he
shot down for the Chinese, saw the
I Japanese air squadron in the sky
and immediately took off to attack
the entire group single-handed.
He attempted to shoot down the
! slow bombers but became engaged
i in a fight with one of the pursuit
i planes. Tire fight with this plane
• lasted longer than Short expected
i and the other two Japanese pursuit
i planes got above him.
Short killed one Japanese air
I man and wounded another, but
| was himself shot down. His plane
went into a nose dive at 8,000 feet
land plunged to the earth.
A Boeing air company represen
tative identified the wreckage of
the plane as being that of Short’s
as he had purchased the plane only
a fewr days ago. Short was a Cali
fornian,
i
—
JAPAN PREPARING PROTEST
SHANGHAI, Feb. 24. (A*) — It is
| learned here that Japan is prepar- j
ing a protest which it will submit
to the United States over the ac
tion of Robert Short, Olympia and
Tacoma airman, who is reported to
have killed three Japanese before
he himself was shot down by one
of the Japanese pilots and died
from his injuries.
Official news of Short’s death
was unreported but the Chinese ad
mitted he had been killed. j
It is also learned that Short was
a salesman for an airplane com
pany and started to deliver a Boe
ing fighter to the Chinese govern
ment. It was on this trip that he
was shot down.
MAX BAER WINNER
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb- 24. (JP)—
With a great last round rally, Max
Baer, 199 pounds, former Livermore
“Butcher Boy,” pounded out a 10
round decision over old Tom Hee
ney of New Zealand, 211 pounds,
in a rousing battle. Seven thous
and fans attended the afternoon
show in the Seals Stadium.
CEASE SELL BEER
BERLIN, Feb. 24. (A5)—Two thous- j
and bartenders ceased selling beer j
here as a protest against a new j
government tax and the price
charged by brewers. More are ex
pected to join in the strike as soon
as the supply on hand runs out.
PASSENGERS WELL
TAKEN CARE OF ON
MAROONED TRAIN
MESSAGE DESCRIBING CONDI
TIONS SENT GATEWAY BY
GENERAL MANAGER
The passengers on the marooned
northbound train, which left Sew
ard a week ago today for Fair
banks, are warm in coaches and
have had ample food both at Hur
ricane Gulch and at Broad Pass
where they are now stuck and in
general are well cared for, accord
ing to a special message sent to The
Gateway from Col. Otto F. Ohlson,
general manager of the Alaska
Railroad who personally is on the
job directing ail crews in clearing
the right-of-way.
The message: “With the wea
ther conditions and temperature
from 25 to 50 below' zero in the
Alaska Railroad belt, this winter
iis reported to be more severe than
for many years, particularly be
tween Curry and Healy, or in the
; Broad Pass region, but the Alaska
Railroad has made very strenuous
efforts to keep the road open and
to get the boat train through to
Fairbanks.
“There are 12 passengers on thus
train that left Seward last Wed
nesday morning. It was handled
without delay to Curry where, on
account of the storm, it was held
j over Thursday and started North,
j following a rotary, Friday morning.
This rotary and passenger train,
j v%n account of the severe storm,
l was unable to proceed beyond Hur
i ricane Gulch, a distance of 25 miles
'from Curry, and both the rotary
and passenger train were there
j until Monday morning, until after
1 another rotary from the North had
! cleared the line of slides and heavy
snowdrifts that had accumulated
between Broad Pass and Hurricane.
! “Upon arrival at Broad Pass at
; 5 o’clock a. m. Monday, the rotary
| and passenger train were held
j again, on account of the storm, for
i the crew to obtain rest, and the
I rotary was started North at 5 p. m.
: the same day, proceeding for about
; eight miles, returning twice to
Broad Pass for coal and water on
account of the hard frozen snow
making progress difficult, and as
a high wind filled in the cuts with
new drifts, it was futile to con
tinue as there was danger of get
ting blocked in and prevent its re
turn to a point for a supply of coal
and water.
“Passengers on the train were
kept warm in the coaches and
there was ample food at Hurricane
and at Broad Pass were likewise
well taken care of, as there is a
road house at that point.
“High wind still exists north of
Broad Pass and as soon as it abates
the rotary will proceed north fol
lowed by the passenger.
“The region south of Curry as
far as Anchorage reports very se
vere storms last Saturday and Sun
day, all cuts being filled in with
heavy snowdrifts and one-half mile
south of Curry a 300-foot long and
40-fcot deep snow slide came down
from a high bluff. This slide was
cleared last evening and the rotary
Ls now enroute to Willow where it
will turn and proceed to Broad
Pass, assisting in clearing the line
north so as to get the northbound
passenger train through to Fair
banks-”
REPORT FAVORABLY
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 24.
(A5) — The Senate Judiciary Com
mittee was unanimously favorable
in reporting the nomination of
Judge Benjamin N. Cardoza to the
U. S. Supreme Court.
PLAN SEARCH
PORTLAND. Feb. 24. (/P)—Friends
of Mrs. Edna Christoferson, who
with Pilot W. B. Graham are many
days overdue at Atlin. B. C., have
begun a movement to raise funds
to finance an expedition to search
for tRe missing aviators- * *