The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, November 10, 1939, Page 1

EMPIRE PRICE TEN CENTS THE DAILY ALASKA “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME 1939. VOL. LV., NO. 8256. JUNPAU ALASKA, FRIDAY "()\l\lRl R 10, MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS HOLLAND, BELGIUM P * * » * * L3 * * L] » » * » * * » »* - - » - L3 * EPARE, INVASION 's Time To Evacuate NATIVE DIES UNREPENTANT ONGALLOWS Nelson Charles Execution Performed on Sched- ule at Jail Here "INNOCENT" 15 LAST WORD OF MURDERER Ketchikan %}1 Pays for Brutal Killing of His Mother-in-Law Nelson Charles died on the gallows here this morning for the murder his mother-in-law. The trap was sprung at 8:46 o'clock and docto prenounced the Ketchikan Native dead at 8:52 o'clock Last words of the condemned man, as he stocd at the edge of the trap and was asked by U. 8. Marshal Wil- liam T. Mahone! Nelsorr, have you anything to say?”, were: 1 will say I am innocent of Lhe crime of my mother-in-law, and I| still say I'm innocent.” Charles, shivering but erect, his eyes closed, spoke very softly, so that i witnesses seated only 15 feet away of A b ey i | S had difficulty in hearing. The only | A enunciated clearly was the first “innocent.” His veice trailed off in the final half dozen words and became barely a whisper. Walks to Gallows The Indian walked unaided to the gallows, built under a porch at the | northwest end of the Federal Jan‘ Building. A white web belt strapped( his arms to his side as he walked | in between Mahoney and Depu'.y, Marshal Walter Hellan. Spiritual | wm)sors the Rev. W. G. LeVasseur | and Capt. Stanley Jackson, had en.\ tered the executon chamber a mo- | ment, before. | After Charles spoke his final| words, his ankles were strapped to-! gether by another white belt. With | the two officers supporting him, he | then shuffled inch-by-inch to the | center of the trap. Some difficulty was experienced in pulling the black cap over his abundant black hair. Ma- honey ed the noose from a peg at the side of the scaffold and pulled it snugly around Charles’ neck. The hangman’s knot was adjusted just | back of his right ear. The Deputy’s hand on his shoulder supported the | erect prisoner, who clasped his brown hands before him. Signal te Executioner At a signal from Mahoney, Hellan flipped a switeh at his side, evident- ly to turn on a light as a signal to a Deputy in another room who actu- ally sprung the trap. | Charles fell and swung at the end | of the rope, without a sound and | without a motion. He must have died | instantly. The floor of the platform partiaily hid frem the witnesses the upper part of the dead man’s body. Fifteen feet below, a plank stand was set up so that the doctors could | examine the body. Dr. E. F. Vollert | made the first examination. Then Dr. W. W. Council pronounced the single word, “dead,” at 8:52. A Deputy telephoned to the under- taker, and by the time witnesse: left, a hearse was backing into lhe| courtyard, The execution was carried out smoothly and expertly, although it was the first ever held in Juneau. Remained Calm Nelsen Charles was calm through- out the night, jailers said, and ate a hearty breakfast. He slept about an heur and a half. Both the Rev. Le- Vasseur and Capt, Jackson had in- terviews with him as the witnesses gathered at the jail and presented their blue “invitation” cards. On a rack at one side of the jail office hung a double-breasted blue serge coat bearing a tag which read “Nelson Charles.” On the wall was the blackboard tally of prisoners in the various cells. Witnesses knew that one of the figures would be erased within an hour. After signing the official papers, witnesses were ushered by the Mar- shal around the side of the build- ing and into a small cubicle adjoin- word (Contimued on Page Eigho’ | result of shipping restrictions in the Workers engaged in the serious business of building a sandbag armor for the famed obelisk in the | Place de la Concorde give Parisians | & new guessmg game. How many, bags comprise the needle’s defense against Germnn bombs ? FDR Tacklmg | Problem Over :: Flag Changes Says Achon of U. S. Lines Legal But Still Open | fo Question ! WASHINGTON, Nov. 10.—Presi-| | dent Roosevelt said today the trans- | fer of eight United States Line ves sels to foreign registry is legal, but | | the question as to whether or not it | will be permitted is still being stud- ied from the human the property angle, Discussing at his press conference the situation created from the na- jion’s North Atlantic sea lane as a as well a.s*] Neutrality Act, the President report- ed he will recommend to Congress | that seamen thrown out of work be placed under the Social Security program and receive old age pen-| sions and unemployment insurance | benefits. Insisting the transfer of the U. S. Line vessels to Panamanian registry s legal, the President said, however, that other guestions are being ms.i | cussed to benefit not only laid up | but ships themselves, President Roosevelt said he will discuss with maritime labor leaders today, the prospects of working out a Maritime Commission project to | give training under commissioned | officers $o officers and seamen | thrown out of work and pay them | through the Government during their uammg FORCED BACK PARIS, Nov. 10.—The General Staff in a communique tonight says German troops attacked late this af- ternoon in two localities but were forced to fall back under heavy French infantry and artillery fires. R THERE ARE four towns in the United States named Akron, Swiss (all UpReszrve War Forces No Reason Given Buf Ord- er Comes Through Rank- ing Leader of Army BERNE, Nov. 10.—The Swiss Gov- ernment has called to duty an un- announced number of ps, in- cluding two infantry battalions and thirty squadrons of cavalry and the complete staffs of certain re- serve brigades and iments No reason was given out for the action, but the Swiss High Com- mand and Government have matc I - ed military precautions with ropean diplomatic and military velopments. The' Federal order on the Henry Guisan - COAL MINE CAVE-IN;5 de- issued of Council advice General MEN KILLED Wife of One of Victims Narrowly Escapes Death from Falhng Rock RAWLINS, Wyoming, Nov. 10.— | Five men were killed in a coal mine cave-in near here and from which the wife of one of the victims barely escaped. Mrs. Lee Stackhouse was standing | well in the horizontal entry of the husband Falling as she | Stackhouse was trapped with hxs Ccrew. mine talking with her when the roof collapsed rock narrowly missed her e One British Naval Craft Is Missing : Admxralty Issues Stafe- ment Regarding Over- due Auxiliary Ship | earlier types. the | tepairs Lower left, a student recei TOP HEAVINESS OF DESTROYERS IS CORRECTE th as Adir Flghters “S*froriall parts of the Briti s mighty air fleet. Top left, Top right, an instructor trainer, which e Lower right b Empire. a mechanic learns to make motor initiates a fledgling into blind flying. ;m Out of range of enemy bombers, the Royal Air Force station in Trenton, Ont., Canada, has become the training ground for thousands of pi wre prepared for battle with Germany while wearing a gas mask. s instruction on the lin} leaving the grour Here is how the recruits xecutes plane maneuvers without w flier practices his gunnery, PURCHASING WAR RESERVES, p STRATEGIC MATERIALS, HAS Ships Make Them More Effective WASHINGTON, Nov, 10. — The Royfilty in Exile United States Navy disclosed today [ that their overweight-designed new destroyers had lessened stability, but said “fully adequate” measures to correct the defects have already being taken As result of these corrective measures, Charles Edison, Acting Secretary of the Navy, wrote Sen- ator Arthur H. Vandenberg, “It can be stated without reservation that these destroyers will be superior to They will give years of valuable peacetime service and | will have greater reliability and ef- l'e(‘“VPn('Ss in war.” Edison wrote Senator Vanderber after the Senator had sent him a | editorial in the Grand Rapids He | ald referring to reports the destroy- LONDON, Nov. 10.—The British Admiralty announces today that the “HMS Northern Rover, a small aux- | iliary vessel, is considerably overdue | and it must be presumed the ship| is lost.” e ONLYSONOFS. GUGGENHEIMIS FOUND SUICIDE NEW YORK, Nov. 10, — George Denver Guggenheim, only son of | Simon Guggenheim, philanthropist and former United States Senator from Colorado, was found dead in a hotel room here this morning. There was a bullet wound in Gug- genheim’s head and a rifle lay under the body. The police listed the death as a “suicide.” LU " OH, ELIZABETH! WACO, Tex., Nov. 10.—Shout, “Eli- zabeth” at the dormitory annex of Baylor university and six of the 10 girls who live there will answer. & ot BERMUDA is headquarters for ers were so top heavy that fuel oil couldn’t be used out of the lest the ships fall over. - INVESTIGATING ATTEMPT MADE TO KILL HITLER in Berlin-Picture Is Target BERLIN, Nov. 10. authorities continue investigating the explosion in the Munich beer garden, eleven minutes after Fuehrer | Hitler left the place after delivering an address attacking Great Britain A new mystery developed here which is disconcerting. A window in the store of Hitler's personal photographer was smashed last night. In the window was a large picture of Hitler. The picture was evidently the target. The casualty list stands at seven killed, two in a critical condition and 16 others still in hospitals. Great Britain’s west Atlantic naval squadron, About 30 victims were released from the hospitals during yesterday. " growing champion. the champ, produced a tomato, plant which grew to a height of 12|~ !feet in his back yard, ! holds Another My—sgy Develops Duke d’Este Jving under the title of Duke 1’Este in a two-room flat in London, Archduke Robert of Austria is a student of political economy, en- — German rineering and flying. Archduke Otto, pretender to the Austrian throne, is his brother. Another brother, Arch- | uuke Felix, is visiting in the United | States. CHAMP LYNCHBURG, Va., Nov. 10.—This | city, where Thomas Jefferson taught the public that the tomato was good to eat, now boasts a tomato- W. E. Martin, By PRI 'ON GROVER WASHINGTOR, 1 ) alarm over (IIHIL!llllf'\ of ]mn'hm- ized divicion consists of 11,000 men Iml"mm ng war re of tegi (0 abate. But the ill far from solved were not made the various “pressure t arise whenever Fed- s to be spent Congress appropriated $10,000,060 to buy supplies of anese, chromium, tin, qui- igsten, and fairly long other items of which this country has liftle or none. Au- | thority also was given for spend- ing $100,000,000 during the next four years. It must be remembered there is at tim long spread between “authorization” and an “appro- | priation. | £ |A SAMPLE “HEADACHE” | The supply of manganese presents problem i The diffi ier tie: eral money The last a of a a gample problem. This country does | not produce much. | The government 15 fold job of developi domestic | sources by suitable contracts, while at the same time it brings in ship- |loads from Russia, Cuba and In- |dia. Manganese, chromium and | tungster e vital essentials to steel manuf. are, Recently the sury opened bids for the first of the desired supply. The bidding, to say the best, was not keen. There was evidence that all were looking for prices to be pushed hig by the war. Russia, from which we percent more of our 750,000~ !ton annual need, seemed to be| low bidder but put so many tech- nicalities’ in her bid that the sury seemed appalled. For ex- {ample, she asked the U. S. to fork over 80 percent of price before the stuff left Russia, | As an explanation, it was re- gmemhn-red that Russia is desper- ately short of dollar exchange with which to pay for the huge shipments of machinery she is buying in this country. Unofficial guesses are that Rus- sla will modify her terms. Just now the U, 8. is not pressed to buy. here are a million tons in private r()nnunuefl op Fage E‘nun urying the two- 1g the buy 50 or BULLETIN—AMSTER States Consulate here said to! cans it “good time to American members of their is a DAM, Nov. 10.—The United morrow it will advise Ameri get wives and dispensible staffs out of the country.” In doing so, the consulate said it will be passing on advies given by United States Minister George Gordon at Hague in reply to inquiries of American business men there. It is estimated there are about 1,000 persons in this country with some claim to United States citizenship. It is understood the American legation has received information the Belgian border will be closed in the event of German action against The Netherlands. BELGIUM [$ JEOPARIZED! Military Sources Charge Nazi Planes Violating Neutrality Laws 'OVER ONE MILLION © GERMANS AT FRONT ;Bng Putsch Is Expected by | Army Men as Night \’ Contacts Continue PARIS, Nov. 10.—French military charged today that Ger-| | couting planes are violating | Bt‘h{ldl\ neutrality by flying over| th( little country between Aachen, | Germany and France on the Belgian | frontier. The accusation was distributed by | principal news agencies of the French Government which also said the Nazi scouters had engaged in! considerable activity over the French | lines and well within the lines, The French military command es- timated Germany has cmen(xa!de 100 divisions behind the Siegfried | l Line between the Rhine and Moselle rivers. | sour man A German infantry division nun-| h(‘xs 15,000 men, while a meehan- This would mean Germany has well | over a million men behind their for- | tifications. | | Military quarters professed to see |in the present ominous quiet per- haps a prelude to a severe German offensive, In sketch reports of action on the Western Front, such as given out this morning in French com- munique, no indication is given as to the magnitude of operations. This morning’s release said there | had been “activity by contact units | during the night.” - NAZI PLANE | SHOTDOWN | BY BRITISH |Second German Aircraft Escapes in Baffle, | North Sea § LONDON, Nov. 10.—The British | Air Ministry announces that two British fighting planes destroyed a | | German aircraft in the North Sea |off the East Coast early today. A second enemy plane escaped. B | THREE FLOWN T0 ISLANDS TODAY Shell Simmons took three pas- sengers to island ports today and was to bring back four or more pas- sengers from Sitka and way ports on the return. Outbound were Wiliam Fawcett and John Monagle to Tenakee, and Fred Brandes, Jr., to Angoon, | NATIONS IN WARTHREAT Seciionsmhe Nether- lands Already Under Flood Waters SHOOTING INCIDENT TAKES PLACE, BORDER Army Leaves Cancelled- All Public Buildings Are Under Special Guard (By Associated Press) The Netherlands and Belgium anxious neutrals between the north ern flanks of the Allied and Ger- man forces, speeded up defense pre- cautior’s today. Sections of The Netherlands, the tulip fields, have heen flooded:; leaves of the been cancelled and publi iarded. These precautions |after a frontier. Official exp! of The regular a have 1ilding: were taken shooting incident on the ation of { Net new precaution: where trenches are tate that these are taken because of the boraer fol- lowing occupants of an automobile who were Germans. wa the border into The Nef Officials of the Venloo cu tion commanded the Germans halt and when they did not obe command, customs men fired the fire was returned. The invaders quickly retreated to their automo- bile. One report says two persons were killed in the gun battle and another being dug fneident te the an {report, only one killed. Civilian traffic has practically been suspended to make way for troop movements. 1t is reported that additional Gers man troop movements are along the border and tities of war supplies including mot~ orized units are being concentrated nlon:, the border, Strong forces of German cavelry are said to be ob- served movlnu into border areas. LAND MINE EXPLOSIONS KILL 6 MEN Two Amdenls Are Report- ed in Amsterdam Communication AMSTERDAM, Nov. 10—Six men, five of them soldiers, have been {killed in two accidental land mine ' explosions. There is no indication that these accidents are in anyway connect- ed with the border situation in The Netherlands. e —— ALASKA was purchased from Russia in 1867,