The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, February 23, 1937, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. XLIX., NO. 7415. e e 'EARLY MORNING FIRE WIPES OUT JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1937. MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS DOUGLAS BUSINESS SECTION, HOMES DR, TOWNSEND GOES ON TRIAL FOR CONTEMPT Author of Old Age Pension | Plan Answers Charges Before Wash. Court | WASHINGTON, Feb. 23. — Dr.|~ Coufl Propoéal Batile Frances E. Townsend, author of the Old Age Pension Plan, came to trial today on charges of contempt of the House of Representatives. Dr. Townsend was indicted for contempt when he walked out of a special House Committee hearing. The Committee was investigating the Townsend organization at the time. Conviction of contempt would make Dr. Townsend liable to a fine of $1,000 and a month in jail. ETHIOPIANS BEING SHOT IS REPORT GIVEN Those Found with Arms in Homes Placed Before Firing Squads ROME, Feb. 23.—A terse official communique announced that fir- ing squdds have “liquidated” ail Ethiopians found with arms in their homes. This is a sequel to the attempt to assassinate Viceroy Granziani. The communique did not say how many, but did state that of 2,000 suspects held, “some hundreds have been liberated.” Unofficial sources estimated that upwards of 100 have been killed as involved in the attempted assassin- ation or for having arms in their homes. ANTI-LYNCHING BILLS PROPOSED Twenty-eight Have Already Been Introduced in U. S. Congress WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.—The in- flow of anti-lynching bills has swell- ed to 28, most of them identical. Representative Sacks of Pennsyl- vania noted that he introduced one “by request.” His office has given out information that it was at the request of the Association for Ad- vancement of Colored People. Pre- sumably each one introducing such a bill would be pledged to it. The government printer estimat- ed printing bills costs $4.75 a page. Each lynching bill has 8 pages, to- tal $38, or $1,064 for the 28 intro- duced. In form these bills parallel the one filibustered to death two years ago by Southern Senators. Police officials in an area where a lynch- ing occurs would be subfect to pros- ecution in a Federa$ Court, a $5,000 fine and five years’ imprisonment. The victim or his survivors also could sue in Federal Court for $2,- 000 and $10,000 damages from the, defaulting officials, The Attorney General would be required to prosecute both the crim- Miner from Alaska Takes | Pocketful of Bride-to-Be; To Wed Soon OAKLAND, Cal., Feb. 23. — Ben Dahl, 45, a miner, has arrived here from Fairbanks with a pocketful of gold nuggets for Miss Elsie de House, 28, and also a desire to be| married. Dahl was to have been married to ets to | Nugg Miss de House in Seattle last Christmas Day but became snow- bound at his Alaskan mine. Dahl said he will go to Reno to be married just as soon as he can be certain no more snowdrifts will | block his path. Strategy Is Suggested MOVE STARTED TO END SESSION |IN REGULAR TIME Committee Appointed by House to Make Survey —Avert Special Session Possibility of the Legislature fin- ishing up its work in the allotted time of 60 days and thus averting the need of calling a special ses- sion loomed today as suggestion was made in the Territorial House to that effect by Representative Andrew Nerland of the Fourth Di- vision. Rising to a point of personal priv- ilege shortly before the noon recess,| Mr. Nerland suggested that in view| of the vast amount of work that, By PRESTON GROVER ' WASHINGTON, Feb. 23. — Some of those who will oppose President Roosevelt in his court reorganiza- tion proposal were glad he came forward with a scheme to expand the court rather than with some of the alternatives suggested earlier. They sense it will be an easier issue to fight than a plan to take away the Court's authority to pass on certain classes of legislation, or any scheme for requiring a majority of seven of the nine Justices before any Congressional act could be held unconstitutional. Senator Ven Nuys, Indiana Dem- ocrat, advanced what may be part of the opposition strategy. He pro- posed to separate the President's proposal into two parts, Supreme Court appointments in one, all the: rest of the judiciary reform in the Other. Van Nuys has worked be- fore with Senator Borah, who is expected to head the opposition. He is not a Borah tag-along, just has some of the same ideas. ONE IDEA LIKED Administration leaders won't take | ; had been accomplished by the Leg- v, tne yan Nuys idea sitting down. islature in the last week or ten days, o, e President wasn't -being hap- 1t might be possible to complete the povo o S LR oped e calendar in time for the regular preme Court program in the sugar adjournment on March 11. ! coating of court reform ‘1 belleve that if we apply our-|“pigne “ose “most of his opposition "}::s WEh“n t;m::' up "h;lwmklliked the proposal for quick ap- SidouL Ahe, neel a speclal 5€S- ;0015 to the Supreme Court from sion,’ Mr. Nerland said. Pointing .40 courts on im portant con- BRITISH KING AND QUEEN This Is the first official portrait of the new King of England and his lueen since their accession to the throne after the abdication of Edward VIl (Assoclated Press Photo) Juneau Responds Instantly to Douglas Relief | The American Legion and Aux- iliary, which immediately rallied | its forces to aid the stricken citi-| zens of Douglas, reported this af-/ ternoon that before 10 o’clock this | morning more than 30 calls had been received from citizens of Ju- neau offering rooms and other ac-| commodations to those who had| been burned out in the fire. | Incidentally, by 9 o'clock this morning the Legion and Auxiliary| had mustered their emergency| 'MAYOR GOET1 HAS RECEIVED 3 DONATIONS Contributions Start toCome in for Douglas Suf- ferers Mayor Albert E. Goetz late this afternocon announced that the first squad and other forces and were cash donations received for the aid of the stricken city were: H PLACES THAT WERE BURNED MORNING FIRE Residences and Business| Houses Are Destroy- ed at Douglas Residences reported to have been destroyed in the conflagration early today at Douglas were owned by: Fred Gallwas. George Fleek. John Guevrieo. Gus Wahto. Charles Fox, two houses. L. W. Kilburn, rooming house, 22 residents; 1 large house, three apartments. Occupants: A. H. Campbell, Burr Johnson, Anton Reisch. 1 small house. 1 large warehouse. Eddie Bach. Mike Reiser. Edwards. Robert Dupree. Rene Straiger. Jake Manning. Carl Foridan, Arne Shudshift. | Prank Costonabale. John McWilliams, Sandy Degan. John Gravrock. Business Blocks and Public Occupied by A. H. Buildings Douglas School House. Ed Andrews and residence. Joe Reidl and residence. Guy €mith Drug Store and four apartments dnd Postoffice. Dreamland. Cash Grocery. | TFeusi and Jensen Hardware. Douglas Hand Laundry. Simpson Building. Odd Fellows Hall. Goetz Grocery. City Bakery. City Hall and Fire Hall Congregational Church. Greek Russian Church. Eagles Hall and John Marins Go Up in Smoke—High ers—Juneau Rushes to City. Fire of an undetermined CHANNEL CITY IN SMOULDERING RUINS FOLLOWING WIND-FANNED CONFLAGRATION AT DAYBREAK Major Portion of Town Entirely Destroyed by Flames Which Are Reported to Have Started in Rear of Jensen’s Cash Grocery—Scores See Life Savings Wind Handicaps Fire-Fight- Aid of Stricken Neighboring origin, starting shortly berore 5 o’clock this morning, supposedly in the rear of the Douglas Cash Grocery, owned by Tom Jensen, on Front Street, in Douglas, and fanned by a high wind, spread from both sides of the store, then jumped the street and flying embers carried flames to other sections of the island city, until practically the entire business section, with many residences, was wiped out. Several Douglas citizens and insurance agents roughly estimate the loss at approximately $200,000. The flames leaped from place to place, sparing several buildings but igniting others, making them most difficult to control. In fact, control was out of the question and the fire fighters spent their efforts on confining the fire to as narrow a path as possible. Spreads Two Directions Spreading in two directions from its source, the fire swept along the water side of Front Street, before being driven townward by the wind to almost completely encircle the commaercial district of the city. Sweeping in a northerly direction from the Jensen store, the flames next consumed Mike Pusich’s Dreamland resort, then burning brands borne by the wind ignited the City Fire Hall, Odd Fellows’ Hall, and continued their march inland along D Street to next envelope the Reidi Bakery, spread to the Congregational Church, and the row of build- ings along Third Street which housed Guy Smith’s Drug Store and Apartments, Douglas Post Office, Ed Andrews’ pkotography shop and the Kilburn residence and rooming house, then leaping the avenue, engulfed the Douglas Inn and Eagles Hall and continued their sweep up the hillside to out that it might be advantageous to the Federal Government and the Territory to limit expenses as much as possible, the Representa-; tive moved that a committee of two: be appointed to survey the situation' and report back to the House on{ the possibility. The plan was ap-| proved by a vote of 11 to three and Speaker Joe Green appointed Victor B. Ross of the Fourth, and James| V. Davis of the First to study the probability @and make. suggestions. An extraordinary session already has been called by Gov. John W.! Troy, at the request of the Legis- lature, to convene March 19. Three new bills and two memor- ials made their appearance in the House this morning, the 44th day. Tomorrow is the last day bills can; be presented without a two-thirds| consent of the House and it is un-| derstood that a flood of measures will be fntroduced. Measures can be presented without the two-thirds consent up to midnight tomorrow, night. Today’s measures included: H. J. M. 51, by Coffey, asking the Road Board for & road from Dil- lingham and Snag Point to Alek- nagik. H. J. M. 52, by Dan Green and Ross, asking a road from Eureka | to Tofty on the upper end of Sulli~ van Creek, a distance of sbout 16! miles. A H. B. 13, by committee on roads and highways, setting up an auto- mobile road law for the Territory. It sets no speed limit but carries a reckless and careless driving clause. It. limits loads to 16,000 |Llce it has that right now. Rarely RED CROSS TO inal action and the suit for damages|pounds of a maximum width of sev-| unless the victim chose other coun-[en and one-half feet and prohibits, sel for the latter. No pre-payment|livestock from running along the of court costs would be required|roads or highways and also prohib- of the claimants, thus making it|its the depositing of garbage along possible for improverished negroes|the roads. to get action. H. B. 74, by Nerland, to appro- priate $3,000 for use of the Ter- iograms ritorial: Chamber of Coramerce dur- Radio . for ing the coming biennium. Douglasites H. B. 75, by Laiblin, revising the At Te]ephme Office statute relative to disbursements litigants may be allowed by way! Many radiograms are being re-|of costs. ceived by the U. 8. Signal Corps for residents of Douglas. Owing to IN THE SENATE the uncertainty of locating them,| Two memorials were approved by those expecting communications|the Senate today asking for mnew from the states are requested to go| —------o-—- o/ to the Douglas Telephone office. | (Continued on Page Eight) 5 |ferers from the Douglas fire was stitutional issues. Often is it done now. This would make it certain. tutional issue stop with the Circuit Court, so going that path is waste motion. AS COURT ‘FRIEND’ As to the President’s proposal that the government have the right to intervene in private litigation in- volving acts of Congress, by prac- does a Court refuse the Govern- ment the right of coming in as a “friend of the Court,” under which banner it can fight on either side it chooses. Some of the President’s critics felt that in advocating court ex- pansion he was “backing away” from a constitutional amendment, fearful of breaking down the Fed- eral-State relationship. After all, Mr. Roosevelt, while Governor of New York, did deliver a very earnest State’s rights address. AID DOUGLAS Requiremen?Will Be Giv-| " en to Headquarters by | R. E. Robertson Information as to the amount of . assistance needed from the Ameri- can Red Cross to relieve, the sul-, being gathered today by R. E. Rob- | ertson, Acting Chairman of the Red, Cross, who visited the scene of dis- aster this morning. “While I cannot notify the San Francisco headquarters until I have information as to the amount of help needed, we may be sure that the Red Cross will co-operate fully with the city to relieve the distress of the fire victims,” Mr. Robertson said. | ———————— Mrs. Charles Fox, with the help | of others, managed to get her piano out the burning Fox home, only to have it catch fire and burn outside the building. | |Pire Chiet V. W. serving coffee in Douglas to those who were fighting the conflagra- \Rarely does an important consti-|tion. Someone will be on duty at the Dugout to offer service on accom- modations until the emergency has passed, it was announced today. ——— e JUNEAU FIRE DEPARTMENT 60 TO SCENE Boys Fighting Blaze Soon After Alarm — Ricketts Has Men There, Too Ten minutes after tne alarm had been sounded at the Juneau Fire Department at 5:15 o'clock this morning local firemen were actively engaged in fighting the big confla- gration. Presence of the big hose truck is credited with saving at least a dozen Douglas houses. Available equipment on the scene across the Channel consisted only of a small chemical rig which was put out of commission when hose was blis- tered and made useless by the in- tense heat. “We started fighting the fire at Mike Pusich’s Dreamland,” said (Penny) Mulvi- hill, “and it was plenty hot there. We started pumping water from the hydrants but the blaze at the Dreamland was too far along to be stopped. The buildings right in the business district were either gone or doomed but by continuous use of water we were able to pre- vent the fire from levelling the whole community.” Eight members of the Juneau Fire Department responded to the alarm with the truck and over a dozen others quickly followed. | Ricketts On Job ! Twenty members of the Talla- poosa’s crew under Lieut.-Com- mander N. G. Ricketts hastened to (Continued on Page‘méflt) i Archie Shiels, $500. | Governor John W. Troy, $250. | Secretary E. W. Griffin, $100. Mr. Goetz expressed his deep gra- titude for the contributions. The Douglas Mayor expressed | heart-felt thanks for the splendid ‘work .done by the Juneau Volun- | teer Fire Department in arriving so {promptly in Douglas and fighting | the fire, and also to the American | Legion Auxiliary for their service !during the fire, and the facilities offered to take care of any who were homeless. — - Douglas School - Ghildren May | 2 cnme_yl Juneau Facilities of Local Schools Offered to Island’s 71 Grade, High Pupils The facilities of the Juneau pub- lic school system have been ex- tended to the 71 pupils of the Doug- las schools, by the Juneau School Board, A. B. Phillips, superintend- ent of schools announced ; this morning. The offer was made to Mayor Goetz, of Douglas, who in turn was to take the matter up with the Douglas School Board today. At press time no action had been taken, Mr. Phillips said, but it would be possible for the Juneau schools to accommodate the Doug- las puplls without overcrowding the local school rooms. The Douglas School burnad to the ground in the fire today, was par- tially covered by three insurance policies, totaling $10,000, carried with H. R. Shepard and Son. High praise from everyone inter-' viewed was accorded to the Juneau Fire: Department, and to Mayor Goldstein who was in Douglas soon after the fire started. |business, the Douglas Inn. | John Carlson. J‘ Eugene De Rosette. — .- —— INSURANCE ONLY, PARTLY COVERS $200,000 LOSS Juneau Agents Estimate In- sured Loss to Be Less than One-Third, Total Juneau fire insurance agents this afternoon roughly estimated dam- age in Douglas as a result of the fire as gomewhere between $150,000 and $200,000. Insurance carried with Allen Shattuck, Juneau Insurance Agen- cy, Keith Wildes and H. R. Shep- ard and Son was estimated to cover iless than a third of the loss suffer- ed, according to hasty check-ups today by Curtis Shattuck and Stan- ley Grummett.. In the - business section, where the loss was especially large, firms were under-insured. This, agents explained was due largely to the ilarge and costly stocks of goods car- ried, and the high insurance rates on heavily-stocked businesses. Insurance agencies had reported the losses to their companies brief- {ly by wire, and at press time had !received no responses. However, | telegraphic word is expected as to |whether insurance adjustments may |be made by local agents, or the v‘oampnnies combine and send an insurance adjustor from Seattle. |Settlements will be made as rapid- {ly as possible. Insurance on the Douglas Pub- |lic School building was carried with H. R. Shepard and Son for $10,- 000. Residences lost will be covered .about 50 percent by insurance, Ju- neau agents estimate. | Check-up of losses was not com- H (Continued on Page Eight) | (the school house and through DOUGLASITES MEET WITH TROY ON REBUILDING Gov. John W. 1roy today told a committee of 12 Douglas residents; and business men who called upon him to confer relative to the re-con- struction and re-habilitation of Douglas that he would immediately wire to and exert every effort to obtain financial help from Wash- ington, D. C., to aid them in re- building the City of Douglas. Mayor Albert A. E. Goetz, of Douglas, was appointed chairman of | the committee which will work out the re-construction, by Governor ‘Troy. The committee and the City Coun- cil will meet tonight at the home of Councilman Lew Nunamaker, to discuss the procedure, and Ross Gridley, PWA engineer, will act as technical consultant in working out the plans, to rebuild the burned portions of the city. “We people of Douglas are deter- mined that Douglas will be rebuilt, and that it will be a bigger, more attractive city, Mayor Goetz said today Douglas has weathered many| setbacks, but now that we have/ our long-wanted bridge and our wa- ter works, we are not going to let; this catastrophe discourage us. We| will pull together, and through in- telligent planning, courage and in- dustry on «the part of our people a new Douglas will arise from the ashes that is our business section today.” Other members of the committee in addition to Mayor Goetz are: Councilmen Marcus Jensen, A. J. Balog, Thomas Cashen, Lew Nun- amaker, Joe Reidi, Ed McCormick the residential district. Freak of Flames In the other direction, the flames surged out from the Jensen Grocery to consume the entire Feusi and Jensen store and warehouse, the old theatre building next it, then, almost completely sparing the old lumber yard, and Owl Cafe building, hurdled Front Street to raze the Douglas Hand Laundry and the large vacant building next it, dart- ed across C Street to engulf Tony Simin’s Grocery Store, spared. the Catholic Church, but took all other buildings near the ball park, including the Gallwas residence, ¢ Third Street to consume the Goetz Grocery and all other structures in that block ex- cept the Coliseum Theatre, then held to a bee-line up through the slope of the hills picking off the scattered resi- dences to the outermost of them, where the circle of fire was completed. Battle Line of Firemen As the glow of the flames encrim= soned the early morning skies, Douglas firemen and private citi- zens formed a battle line against the encroaching tongues of fire, but, spurred on by the bellows of the gale, the unloosed menace over- came all efforts to gain control over it, and before the hastily summoned Juneau truck and firemen could re- inforce the defense, the holocaust had become irresistable. But, though the wind goaded the flames to greater speed in their spread, such was its fury that it aided the defenders’ efforts to nar- row the path of the flames, which swept steadily upward before the blast, not pausing to lick sidewise and Charles A. Fox. and residents F. A. J, Gallwas, Guy, Smith, Mike Pusich, John mrlnl nor varying their direction. (Continued on Page Twe)