The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 12, 1947, Page 1

¢ THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” = VOL. LXVIL, NO. 10,757 = \EAU, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, —) 1947 'MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENT§ PLANE BURSTS INTO FLAMES, EXPLODES Marshall af Big Four Conference HEARING IN PLANE CRASH AT SEATTLE Testimony Given that Pilot Rejected Suggestion | of Radar Landing A O | SEATTLE, Dec. 12—(®—A con- trol tower operator testified today that the pilot of an Alaska Airlines plane that met disaster in a Nov 30 landing at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport had rejected a suggestion »f a radar-directed landing at the Sand Foint Naval Air Station As the Civil Aeronautics Board hearing cn the tragedy proceeded | in its secend de7, Paul F. Anderson, | Civil Aeronautics Administration | control tower operator said (he‘ sponse of Pilot James E. Far to the suggestion was: “No, thanks. Eight were injured fatally when | the DC-4, coming in from Alaska | with 28 aboard, ran off the runway, | crashed into an automobile and burned. Harlow R. Willey, CAA communi- | cator at the airport, said the ap-! proach and landing speed of the big | airliner was “considerably in excess” | of usual DC-4 landings. Vernon L. Foster, Willey's assist- ant, said the plane’s left wing uip nearly dragged on the ground as the ill-fated transport landed on the | northeast-southwest runway of the! Bow Lake Field. Weather Bureau employees were ! expected to appear as witnesses lat- er today. Differing Testimony Highlight of the probe yesterday | was differing testimony of H W< Bierds, Operations and Maintenance | head of the firm; Capt. James E; Farris, pilot of the ill-fated trans- | port, and Richard Whitting, the| plane’s co-pilot. i Bierds testified “it was evident | that there had been some braking action,” on the landing while Far-| ris insisted that “not the slightest | braking action was noticed.” Whitting, who was called during | the afternoon session, said he was, unable to state “for sure” Whether} he knew the brakes were in opera- | tion or not | Captain Farris said the airplane | “could have been stopped with nor- | mal braking action.” Farris said roughness in his No. | 2 and No. 3 engines prompted his | decision to land at Seattle, despite | cloudy conditions, instead of head- ing for an alternate landing field | at Eugene, Ore. Whitting said he did not consider | the plane’s approach “normal,” but, he declared the landing, in his| opinion, was not an emergency let- | down. Farris testified he considered the landing “normal.” A. H. Peterson, Alaska Airlines’ chief pilot, testified he had trouble | with brakes on the same plane on | the craft’s previous trip from Seattle to the Territory. Captain Farris presented figures | to the board on distances required | to stop a DC-4, testifying he could have halted the plane’s roll in 559 féet with normal braking action. —_— AMERICAN JEWRY | ASK FOR LARGE PALESTINE FUND ATLANTIC CITY, N. J., Dec. 12. —{P—American Jewry was asked | today to provide $283,150,000 for| aid to Palestine in 1948, a sum that would earmark $28,000,000 rur! the purchase of arms to equip a| Judean z\rmy “of “tens of lhousand;\ of men.” | Eliezer Kaplan of Jerusalem, | treasurer of the Jewish Agency for| Palestine, told 1,500 delegates the national conference of thel United Jewish Appeal a full-time army must be recruited to meet current Arab threats of a Holy| Wwar. He set no estimate of; strength other than the army| should comprise “tens of thous-| ands.” . | - — WROTE BAD CHECKS | | Ed Larsen was arrested here yes- Il.d terday by the U. S. Marshal’s Office | and charged with issuing checks | without funds. He was arraigned | before U. S. Commissioner Felix Gray who set bond at $250. ) Royal Engagemeni Rumored iy | King Mihai of Rumania walks with Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma near MGM film studios sat Boreham Woad, near London recently. A well informed source close to the Danish Royal Family reported that the couple’s engagement probably would be announced soon. (” Wirephoto ECONOMIC PROGRAM PLANNED WASHINGTON, Dec. 12—P— {The Senate Republican Policy Committee agreed today on an anti-inflation program pointed at voluntary action to reduce the cost {of living. Details were withheld. Chairman Tatt (R-Ohio) oi the policy gi-up said a statement of srinciples will bg issued tomorrow after it has been checked with the House Republican Policy group and a conference of all GOP Sen- ators. 4 Although Taft declined to dis- cuss the GOP proposals, he said the statement would include three lor four proposals which are a |part of the House committee-ap- | proved Wolcott bill. Democrats are crganizing a drive to put some of President Truman’s anti-inflation propos into the | Republican measure, which already ihas come in for criticism from GOP ranks. Replying to Repuhhcan demands (Continued on Page Elght» | - eee The Washington | Merry - Go- Round by LREW PEARSON WASHINGTON — In wartime military security hushes up a lot| of Army mistakes. In peacetime, ipeople are usually too busy think-/ inging abcut other things to safe-| guard against future mistakes.| However, a few Congressmen, such as Rep. George Bender, Ohio Re- publican, have persisted in point- | ing up Army faults in peacetime and demanding that something be | done about them before Congress| votes on military conscription. Rep. Bender, with the help of Lindsay Warren's efficient General Accounting Office, has unearthed | the shocking fact that several Ar-| my officers who decided how much | money the Government owed war‘ contractors, thereafter went work for those same UOntl’aCtO)‘S‘ \Sume cfticers were hired so quick- ly it looked as if a deal had been made at the very same time the | Army officers were deciding how much the Government would pay | these firlms. For instance: Maj. George W. Army’s contracting Parker was the officer assign- to the Howard Aircraft Corp. of St. Charles, Ill. He spent from [Aug. 19 to Sept. 12, 1944 ad]uslmg final payments under this con-| (Continued on Puge Four) radio from London). RIBBLE RIDDlE PORIMND BOUND # 4 DISCOVERS HER AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP! Pat Bolton, who comes from Liverpool, England, is shown on her recent arrival in New York aboard the SS Marine | Marlin. Three years ago Pat found out that she is an American citi- zen. Her father, Robert Ribble, who served with merchant marine in World War I, married an Eng- lish girl and then had to ship out to sea. Her mother was killed after Pat was born and the child was reared by foster parents. Rib- ble returned to England and dis- covered that he had a daughter. He made arrangements for her to live with him in Portland, Ore. (International Soundphoto) ., — *| Ancient Bible Destroyed by {Riofing Moh NEW YORK, Dec Alexander Marx of Theclegical Seminary the po, Syria, by a rioting mob wa “probably the “most valuable text dusrials, 178.38; FOREIGN AID # PROGRAMTO COMMITTEE } Compromlse Rega rdmg Aid to China Seems to i Be Mooted Issue DOUGLAS B. CORNELL Dec. 12.—P— By | WASHINGTON I moved into the dickering {today with a possibility the Sen- {ate might okay some help for Chi- {na it the House would agree to more for Europe. Congressional leaders were shoot- !ing for a compromise by | Five mem] | were assigned to |one th's morning ! The Senate passed its aid bill Dec. 1. The House waited until {yesterday, then swished its measure (through without even a nose count | The principal idea of both bills |is to see to it that France, Italy, jand Austria get fuel and food this start work on | w.nter But the House measure | differs in major respects from ‘what the administration proposed tand the Senate accepted { President Truman wanted $597,- 000,000 for the three European {countries. The Senate went along {Then the House pared the amount ito $590,000,000 and said China tshould be dealt in 1or $60,000,000 lof the total i One clue pointing line of compromise came rmm tor H. Alexander Smith (R- NJ), a member of the Foreign u»- \lations« Committee. ~He sald:the committee had agreed unanimously | with Secretary of State Marshall that something should be dene for iChina later, in a separate bill, but now: “It will be difficult for the Sen- ate to knock out the fund for Chi- na because any such acuou would br regarded as a sl IROME POlI(E IN | JEEPS TURN our to a possible Si IN CITY STRIKE White CoIIar Workers | Defy Communist General | 1 Strike - Go to Work i ROME, Dec. 12.—(M—Flying |squads of police in jeeps sent { would-be demonstrators scurrying {for cover today as thousands of { white collar and government work- {ers openly defied Communist gen- (eral strike orders and went to { work. | officials feared that the Com- {munists would turn to their last 'resorl——majur violence—in an ef- jfort to keep their two-day-ola jstrike from collapsing. They had openly threatened violence, simul-/ taneously disclaiming responsibil- ity if it should occur. Mobs of strikers tried to get into action early. One mob of about! 200 milled in front of the labor | lorrice adjacent to the United States Embassy on Via Concompagni. Be- fore agitators could get them started, police came with jeeps, swinging clubs, and the mob dis- persed. Other police squads in groups of six to eight jeeps dashed into | gathering crowds all over the city| and put them to flight before they | could do anything. The Minister of Interior said police were clear- ing away roadblocks on Rome's outskirts “every hour.” ‘; STOCK QUOTATIONS @ NEW YORK, Dec. 12. — Closing iquotation of Alaska Juneau mine gswck today is 3%, American Can {79%, Anaconda 337%, Curtiss-Wright | 5, International Harvester 87%, 12—A—Dr. 'Kennecott 45%, New York Central Jewish 131, Northern Pacific 19%, U. S. f said today Steel 757, Pound $4.03%. an ancient Bible destroyed in Alep- | Sales today were 1,220,000 shares. Averages today are as follows: In- rails, 48.20; utili- of a complete Hebrew Bible which ties, 32.98. had heen preserved.” Dr. Marx said the text had been | completed about the tenth cen-' tury by the Ben-Asher family. | PR PR FROM HOONAH Mrs. Mary Johnson, of Hoonah, is at the Gastineau Hotel. | The stop-gap foreign aid program; stage | Monday. | ers from each chamber | | | | | | | Seeretary of State Geoige C. Marshall (third trom Lt Ministers Conference opening ador to Russia ewis W. ssian expert and St er. Behind Bohlen stands Gen. Lucious D. Clay, U. S, fied. /P Wirephoto via radio from London) First Divisional Demo Conveniicn Underway; 1 London. Douglas, U. 8. Amba:sader to Jernberg Is Chairman Correspondence) KETCHIKAN, Alaska, Dec. 12. —R. L. Jernberg, attorney of Ketchikan, was yesterday elected Chairman of the First I sional Democratic Convention in a victory CONVI(TEDF }ior what the Ketchikan Chronicle | called a ‘“conservative block,” de- feating Jake ' Valentine 75 to 66 man of the important Credentials Committee with members Ray Reoady of Ketchikan, M. E. Mon- agie of Juneau and Earl Forsythe of Juneau The Ketchikan delegation was allowed 15 additional votes which hey failed to elect at the Ketchi- N caucus. ( William R. Carter of Juneau was (Special Three Men, Codefendants, Alo Found Guilty, Kid- naping, Assault Case Il\'lnlul Chairman of the Nominat- LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12—# ing Committee with members being Film actress Madge Meredith, con-|James Nolan of Wrangell, R. N. victed oi three felonies, awaits|DeArmond and H Newell of sentencing Monday on charges of | Ketchikan and Earl Forsythe of dnaping and assaulting her| Juneau. |l(z|]:!:( career adviser, Nick Gian: BREr Bl ior suneni At terney General, was named Chair- A superior court jury of 11 WO-yap ‘of the Platform and Resolu- men and one man returned the|. o mo el T lih other mem- verdict late yesterday after fi’g“m,s belng Mayor Bob Ellis of hours' deliberaticn, Besides Kide | getonivan Ery Hill® of Juneau naping and assault, it convicted| . & P;nkertnn 21 Kclchxkan’ her of conspiracy and found 'In'ee‘ L ek A, s bt men co-defendants guilty of Vat") qme convention. recessed at the lous charges after the four week |, 4 o¢ the first day pending a re- | sort on the Nominating Commit- They are Alpert Tucker, 29 a|tee and Platform and Resolutions man convicted of kidnaping, | committee. wt with a deadly weapon and | 153 o L copspiracy: Damon Klinkenberg, 32, a ccok, assault, conspirac colD wEAIHER | possession of a blackjack; James | | Hatfield, 33, former Beverly Hills | policeman, possession of a black-| SPREAD|“G OUT’ | jack. Penalties prescribed under Cali-| | fornia law are five years to life| for conspiracy; cne to 25 for kid- ‘nupmg five to 10 years for as- sa th deadly weapon [sault w‘f’ X : s lf Generally cold weather spread | |over most of the country today, MEMBERS' RE(E ~1_--r _mm.hm from below zero in parts of ll |the Midwest to below freezing in ! | central Texas and chilly in sections i AT LUTHERAN CHURCH | cortnern ioriaa ana southern | | California. At the 11 o'clock worship ser- The Federal Weather Bureau in {vice of the Resurrection Lutheran | Chicago said temperatures would |Church Sunday morning the re- climb in the southern areas and in |ception of new members will take California but readings of slightly ~ MOSTOF NATION | (By The Associated Press) {mund A. Vogel. | The pastor’s sermon for this ser-; marks also were reported in north- |vice will be, “Knowing the Christ|ern and central Wisconsin and some when He comes.” The Director of |Parts of Minnesota Music, Mrs. Eunice Nevin will lead! Light rain fell in sections of the the Junior Choir in the singing|Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley “Who Is He in Yonder Stall” by, areas eastward into New England, Hanby-Monk, and the Senior Choir | While rain is réported in the south- in MacGimsey's “Sweet Little Je- €ast Atlantic States Yesterday's high marks were 79 !sus Baqy.” at Tampa, Fla.,, and 78 at Miami o — e CORDOVA VISITOR HERE FROM PELICAN Frank Swartzbacker, of Cordova,| Gene Torkilsen, of Pelican, is is registered at the Baranof Hotel 1stop,:uug at the Baranof Hotel sits with his adviser From left around the table are V London; N e Department Counsellor, and Jl'h“ Foster Dulles, Republican fereign a . Commander in Germany. Iplace. Those being received into|below normal would continue in the congregation are: Mr. and most other sections Mrs, Norman J. O'Bryan, Miss, The mercury dropped to five be- {Ellen Conn, Mr. and Mrs James|low in Wausau, Wis, during the L. Deyon and Mr. and Mrs. Ed- early morning hours for the coun- | | try’s lowest reading. Minus zero Four Foreign Her Bedell Smith, U. S. arshall, Charles Bohlen, ffairs lead- Others are unidenti- at the WALLACE PLANNING TOBOLT Will Vote for Tafl for Presi- dent, He Says-May Be Candidate Himself JACK BELL By WASHINGTON, Dec. 12—® The Democratic leadership gave up about its. last hope today that Henry A. Wallace could be persuad- ed not to endanger President Tru- man's 1948 election prospects by bolting and running on a third party ticket. A cryptic “that’s his privilege” was the retort of Senator Mc- ith (RD), chairman of the Dem- ocratic National Committee, to Wallace's Buffalo, N. Y., assertion that if it came to a choice between President Truman and Senator Taft, he would vote for Taft. From the Democratic organiza- ticn standpoint, this put Wallace, former Vice-President and Roose- | velt cabinet member, about as far beyond the pale as he can go with- out actually announcing that he himseil is going to run as an in- dependent The Democratic National Com- mittee for months has levelled most of its 1ire at Taft. A recent par- ty putlicaticn caontended, for in- stance, that the Ohio Senator rep- resents the body of Republican | thinking and ought to be the GOP nominee. At his Buffalo news conference yesterday, Wallace also mentioned | Goy. Thomas E. Dewey of New! York, another potential ()OP cnn-‘ didate, comparing him Truman “I hesitate to say whethel Dewey is a watered-down version | of Truman or the President is a watered-down version of Dewey,” he said Some Democrats commented pri- vately that if Wallace hadn't al- ready made up his mind to bolt, he hardly would go around mak- ing such statements. Wallace’s - left-handed endorse- ment was publicly greeted only with laughter in the Tait camp. Taft, an announced candidate for the GOP nomination, was si- lent himself. But there were indi- cations his friends would have been better pleased if Wallace had picked someone else as his favorite Republican cand!date G Pare. STEAMER MOVEMENTS Alaska, llum S( attle heduled to arrive at 6 p. m. tom W, Princess Norah, scheduled to sail from Vancouver at 9 o'clock tonight Sword Knot scheduled to sail from Seattle December 18. Aleutian scheduled to sail from Seattle at 9 a. m. tomorrow. Denali, om west, southbound at 1 p. m. Saturday. Baranof, from west southbound Sunday scheduled | dark last night, | persons ARMY (-47 IN CRASH; 20 KILLED Craft Slashes Through Wooded Area-Bodies, Wreckage Scattered MEMPHIS, Tenn, ec. 12—®— An Army C-47 plane burst into ilames with a flash seen two miles and crashed into an open side near here shortly after killing at least 20 and possibly 21 The big craft slashed through a small wooded ¢ within two miles of the Memphis municipal airport, and twisted into a sage field, scat- tering bodies and wreckage over a quarter-mile path. Small trees were torn down. In cne, a half-open parachute dang- led. Twisted masses of metal hung on other limbs and dotted the ground Col. Donald K. Fargo, command- ing officer of the 468th Air Forces Base Unit, announced the death toll as 20 with possibly another bedy in the wreckage. Names of the dead were withheld pending notiiication of relatives, An Army spokesman said two were belleved to be negroes. Fargo spid the plane was based at Aberdeen, Md., and had made its last stop at El Paso, Texas, yesterday, It was returning from the West Coast. Plane Explodes G. V. White said he saw the plane “explode ahd burst into flames from his home two miles away. “It wasn't more (hnn two seconds before it hit the ground,” he said. Robert - Hall, who lives about two and a half miles from the scene of the crash, said he heard the plane “laboring real loud” and “saw a flash in the sky.” Fargo would not speculate on the cause. The ceiling was reported at 1,700 feet shortly after the crash, which the Army said occurred at 6:05 p. m. (CST) PLANE CRASH LANDED SPOKANE, Dec. 12—(#—A B-29 with three engines on fire crash- landed in a field and broke into three pieces near Medical Lake, Wash., last.pight, and all 10 crew- (men escaped serious injury. The Superfort was from the Spokane Army air field and had just taken off on a long-range navigational flight. The engine fires were extinguished by crew members before Medical Lake fire- !men arrived on the scene. Fred Hauer, a rancher living nearby, said he was told the plane bounced into the air four times as it swept over the ground and once sailed over a country road in the vieinity. Two crew members were treated mr minor facial cuts and bruises. .- " ALASKA REINDEER ' BEING FLOWN T0 DETROIT KIDDIES SEATTLE, Dec. 12. — (#—When parents in Detroit tell the kiddies abcut the Christmas reindeer com- ing from up near the North Pole, in the best “Night Before Christmas” tradition, they won't be far wrong. Ten of them, destined for an au- tomobile disvlay in refrigerated | quarters in Detroit, arrived here in crates on an Alaska Airlines plane last night. The animals, all yearlings and weighing about 135 pounds apiece, were rounded up near Nome by Edwin Butters of Coldwater, Mich. They were to be given a chance to recover from their “air legs” here before flying East s D ATES MEN TO STATES F. M. Tyvol and Gus H. Giss- berg left here via PAA yesterday for Helena, Montana, where they will receive special instructions from the U. 8. Employment Ser- vice for giving employment apti- tude tests. Tyvol is Field Super- visor and Gissberg is Manager of the Juneau office of the Alaska Territorial Employment Service. e