"News of oAmericas Last Frontier’
VOL 10 NO 44
KODIAK, ALASKA JANUARY 6, 1951
PRICE 10 CENTS
Masked Ball
January 14
The annual Russian New
Year’s masquerade ball will
be held on the evening of
January 14, at the Elk’s Club,.
it was announced yesterday.
Entrance to the colorful
dance and party, under the
auspices of the Russian Wo
men's Club, will be by ticket
only. Tickets will go on sale
this week and may also be
purchased at the door the
night of the ball.
Prizes will be awarded for
the best, most original, most
comical and cleverest costumes
for both men and women.
An orchestra has been en
gaged for the evening and the
yearly event is expected to j
draw a large crowd.
On Tuesday a luncheon
dinner will be offered to the
public by the Russian Wo
nen’s Club in the basement
of the Russian church. Lunch
eon will begin at 12 pm and
wtR be served until 5 pm.
Dinner will begin at 5 pm and
served as long as it is desired.
A charge will be made and the
proceeds from the masquerade
and luncheon-dinner will go
into the Russian Women’s
dob fund which is used for
church work.
1
To Form Guard
Unit Here
Plans to activate a local
company of the Alaska Na
tional Guard around January
IS were announced yesterday
ip Capt. Tom Owen.
Gapt. Owen and First Sgt.
1* B. Sessions arrived from j
Anchorage yesterday to inter- ■
view prospective members of
the new unit. The two men
nay be seen at the city hall
between 10 and 12 am and 1
and 3 pm Monday through
Ftfday. A meeting will be j
held for all interested persons i
Monday at 7:30 at the Elks
Hall. |
Men 17 through 35 are
eligible for the guard. Per
sons signing with the guard
aoe indefinitely exempt from
the draft, Sgt. Sessions said.
Twenty men are required to
form a company and in the
event one is activated here it
w01 be known as Company C,
207 Infantry Battalion, Alaska
* National Guard. The two men
are staying at room 1, Kodiak
Hotel.
Paul Dooley, base employe, j
spent Christmas and New]
Tear’s in Seattle with his]
mother, Mrs. Eleanor Dooley,!
who went outside recently. 1
Vokaceks Have
First 1951 Baby
Mr. and Mrs. Mill Vokacek
are the parents of the Kodiak
New Year’s Baby. t
Little Mary Theresa Vok
acek was born at 11:54 pm'
Wednesday night at Griffin j
Memorial Hospital, far ahead t
of any other competitors for |
the claim to the first 1951!
baby.
The little girl, who weighed.
6 pounds at birth, is the se-j
cond child of the Vokaceks j
who have a son, James Mill, <
two and a half years old.
The father of the 1951 baby'
is city utilities superintendent, j
and her mother is U. S. Com- j
missioner for the Kodiak area.}
Vokacek is currently acting ’
as special commissioner while1
Mrs. Vokacek is in the hos- j
pital. i
The baby will receive gifts
from several merchants and
businesses, as does the first t
baby each year. They will be 1
presented to Mrs. Vokacek j
today by the Kodiak MIRROR ■
which annually sponsors the
donations to the first infant
of the year.
Donors previously listed as
giving gifts for the first baby
were Donnelley and Acheson,
Kraft’s Dry Goods, Kodiak
Motors, Rhoades Furniture,
The Stork, Bank of Kodiak<
City Market, Norman Photo,
Leonard’s Jewelry, Oi'pheum,
Kodiak Laundry and Bert’s j
and Wodlingers. j
Other gifts just announced
include a nightgown for the
mother from Mar’ Lou, a
Better Homes and Gardens
Baby Book from Knudsen’s,
and a hand made dress from
Smith’s Tailor Shop.
Christmas Services
At Russian Church
The schedule of Christmas
services for the Russian i
Orthodox Church this week
end has been changed from
that announced earlier, the
Rev. Alexander Popoff said
yesterday.
Christmas eve services will
start with vespers at 4 pm
this afternoon and a Christ
mas eve service will be held at
8:30 pm.
Tomorrow, Sunday, liturgy
will be held at 9 am, vespers
at 4 pm and on Monday morn
ing, second day liturgy will be
held at 9 am.
Peter Gilmore and Elmer
Harrjs, representatives of the
Alaskan Salmon Industry,
arrived yesterday from Jun
eau to start annual fish price
negotiations.
Marshal Dies
PAUL C. HERRING
See story in adjoining column? ^
Troops Pull Out |
Of Inchon
By the Associated Press j
Tokyo— The last United i
Nations personnel at Inchon j
pulled out by sea as Chinese
Red troops approached the
flaming docks. Inchon is the
seaport for the abandoned!
capital of Seoul. I
There was no mass evacua.
tion of soldiers through In
chon. The evacuees were
soldiers stationed at the poi t,
plus civilians. Demolition
squads set off explosives
throughout the harbor leaving
it a mess of worthless wreck-1
age for the enemy.
The main UN ground force
withdrew south, ahead of
advancing communist troops.
Red Chinese patrols crossed
the Han River on thick ice
southeast and southwest of
Seoul but for the time being
UN forces have broken off
contact with the enemy.
Contact was still maintained
in central Korea and around
160,000 Chinese and North
Korean communists attempted I
to cut across the escape routes
to the old Pusan beachead. I
Swarms of Chinese Reds'
pushed southward and
menaced Wonju, important!
allied escape highway center
55 miles east of Seoul, Gen.
MacArthur’s headquarters
announced. The report said
the Reds were attempting to
destroy UN forces at Wonju
and then wheel east to cut off i
the retreating Eighth Army, j
Meanwhile in Washington
the Defense Department was
preparing to ask Congress to
step up the service for draf
tees from 21 to 28 months. It
is also preparing to raise the
age limits for inductees with
continued on page 10
Services Held Here For
Marshal Paul Herring
Paul Herring-, who was “the
law on Kodiak Island” for
ten years, and who reduced
the crime element in Anchor
age considerably in his year
and a half as marshal in that
city, was buried here at his
own request Wednesday af
ternoon.
Herring, who was deputy
marshal in this area for a
decade and perhaps the most
widely known of Kodiak
figures, died Thursday even
ing, Dec. 28 in Providence
Hospital in Anchorage, of
cancer.
At the same time, razing of
the house which served as his
marshal’s house for ten
years—with its overstuffed
chair, big radio, Alaska paint
ings and ikons, and Herring’s
own photo lab—was com
pleted.
Herring’s death followed a
lingering illness and a pro
lo i ged period of pain during
which time he knew his case
was hopeless, the Anchorage
Times reported. Herring came
back to Anchorage last year
after specialists in Seattle had
operated on him again and
found his case hopeless. The
Times said “he maintained
good spirits and discussed his
plight frankly with his
friends.”
About six weeks ago he
moved from his apartment in
the Anchorage Hotel to Provi
dence Hospital, and while
there became a convert to the
Catholic faith.
A requiem mass for Herring
was said Tuesday at the Holy
Family Church in Anchorage,
with Father Joseph T. Walsh
celebrating the mass.
Wednesday services were
conducted by Father Louis B
Fink, S. J., at the Elks Club,
and business houses closed for
two hours in honor of the late
marshal.
Pallbearers were Jorgen
Fredrickson, Ben Kraft, Pat
rick Lynch, James G. Martz,
Mill Vokacek, and Clarence
Dizney. Honorary pallbearers
were Lee C. Bettinger, Emil
Knudsen, Pat Cannon, Char
les Madsen, Jake Foley, Dr.
A. Holmes Johnson, Merrill
Coon, George Slawson, Char
les Skinner and members of
the Kodiak Rotary Club of
which Herring was a charter
member.
By the Associated Press
Paul Clint Herring was 48
years old and held the posi
tion of United States Marshal,
Third Division, Territory of
Alaska, at the time of his
death.
| He was born in Phoenix
, City, Alabama, in * 1902 and
was the son of the sheriff of
Phoenix City which was then
rated as one of the worsl
criminal towns in the U. S
His father was reputed to be
the only man who could en
force the law there.
Herring attended schools in
East Lake, Ala., Columbus
and St. Simons Island, Geor
gia. He served two enlistments
in the U. S. Coast Guard from
1917 to 1922, a part of which
time he was on duty at Cor -
dova, Alaska. Following his
discharge from the service he
returned to Cordova.
He worked for 10 years on
the Copper River and North
western Railway and in 1934
entered the employ of Arctic
Piggly Wiggly at Cordova as a
butcher.
Until 1939 Herring remained
in the grocery and meat bust
ness and then accepted an
appointment to the U. 8.
Marshal’s staff at Valdez. He
was there only a short time
before coming to Kodiak as a
deputy marshal.
Herring quickly won the ad
miration of territorial officials
and high navy officials for his
work in law enforcement,
criminal investigation and
crime prevention.
Throughout the war he kept
close contact* with visitors and
his reports were made a part
of the official intelligence re
cord of the military.
He was repeatedly mention
ed by writers and novelists do
ing articles and stories about
Kodiak and received consider
able fame through a Saturday
Evening Post article about
Kodiak.
' For many years he labored
tirelessly for a new U. S.
federal jail for Kodiak and
finally saW a new, modern
■ structure completed here. He
was a charter member of the
Kodiak Rotary Club and was a
member of the Chamber of
Commerce. He was also a mem
ber of the rationing board for
; Alaska during the war and was
J a member and one-time post
; commander of the American
! Legion at Cordova.
| He prepared and presented
several papers on defense
j measures for the territory and
read them before several
organizations.
In May, 1949, he was ele
vated to marshal of the Thifd *.
Division over many applicants
' for the position. He moved to
l continued on page W