The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 29, 1897, Page 1

VOLUME LXXXIT.— 0. PRICE FIVE CENTS. SAILED F - THE FROZEN GOLD FIELDS Cheers, Good Good-Bys Speed .Away the Excelsior. TEN THOUSAND PEOPLE SAW ' HER LEAVE, ? t to see the or load up afternoon id dock, and plow its 1d on to the at Berin und. nd women there 1as such a crowd cisco cityward e orabie s of growin massin o iing and crow loud hurrahs of tting a moments of as the sieamer sw ing and re n the the last ad had been ed. r bas gone with 112 men uth of the and for ihe n bound for the u 0 mi‘es n icy Ophir that | tic if no us journey of nearly 2 Kiondyke Valley— m ired 4 world. ior will stop for coal at eutian I{lan each here n September pack with news from the ones how they have fared to St. Una- be aboard Mic of Klondyke has fired ation and absorbed It -street wh wa own yesterd where the A chief steamer 'a \ing abou nad ment t all on which In truth man life hardest been strug- k, but ir of ths heart” | ead. They were who were i in their t cutting lar as oon the crowd to watch the coming picturesque lots of baggage wind fluttered tne two at the mastheads bearing ix.”” and “A. Co.,” worked away and Captain | he “ship’s husband” of the com- 8 boss of the deck and all that vefore the hour of sailing. gers came early, especially the s, some of whom had plenty vut began roughing it from the Two wives came aboard with two ping young husbands, and down in steerage, where two could barely | s betw the tiers of bunks, they | picked out with wifely insisience just the | t ones. Peters, an old Comstocker, was aboard, with his son, and the show how the t California m ittle | He haa : ex- lit his pipe | staked with a been in Pasadena, his home, and |one of the boats which hung frem its|end, “That little fellow with the brown he Romance of ‘the Yukon Clothed the| Hundred and Twelve — Letters and Opinions on the londyke. v+ Noon, Yaukon | | gins went to the bridge and gave two warn- | | man, to retrieve a fortune. OR Wishes and S ——— — WEREZELT | then he was vaguely reaay for the rustling ahead. Edward Holland, proprieter of the Com- mercial Hotel, got aboard thirty bound monthly volumes of local dailies to he reading at stores, hotels and salcons e Kiondyke. Some boxes of i marked ‘‘keep cool’ were adled to the deck piles and the donkey-engine at the bow kept jerking of bundles, trunks and boxes | high in the air and deep in the hold. The boy with two uucles with a $2000 a day saloon at Dawson was all right. | The crowa grew to 2000 or so by 11A. M,, when some cust se ners found fifty | gallons of smugg.ed whisky in the hold | and tbe confiscation of it began. It had | been smuggled in by some of the crew without the knowledge of the ‘company | with a view toa fine violation of the Rev ¥ into Al overnor thereof very little in **for medicinal u: | whisky went to the Appraiser’s building, | and Inspectors Johnsonand Hills guarded the ship’s side thereafter. | and 4000 people. Oue o'clock, | | and 4000 more. The Excelsior was to sail | \d the crowd was growing. Cap- | v sent for more and more | and for a time gangway tc the | oven spaces for baggage | e were preserved. ssengers began to arrive in num- 7 & & @ i g 1! ' Animated Scene Just as the Excelsior Cast Off Her Lines From Mission Wharf No. 1. bers, and ihe -cene began to be intense as bustle and the people increased. rvbody who knew anybody aboard ted to get up the gangplank to say 7, and the policeman and the stout dec nd at the toot of the gangplank had an awful time. | It was a remarkable mixture on deck ires and gaily-dressed broken-down miners, s and “bums,’’ all through | On board were davits and watched the scene, waving to triend after friend who ha:led him 1n the crowd. Soon a gilded horseshoe and then a gilded slipper reached him and the crowd cheered. The passengers climbed to the deck- nouses and the briage and the crowds on the w { jammed closer. The donkey | engine still puffed and now-and then bell- clanging came from below. John Dag- gett, W. D. English and Major Frank Mc- e | | | | greasy la that great hizman throng. men of culture, name and character, and | Laughlin were among the well-known every range of mankind that with |ones that managed to get aboard for various purposes in view could rus- | adjeus. tle a st for the Klondyke. They | A man stood atthe crowded head of the became fell for the “gold rush.” The gangplank and tears ran down his cheeks. ~*For God’s see if you can find my wife, Jack,” he pleaded. *I was to meet her at 1 o'clock and didn't.”” He searched the 10,000 faces ana the tears flowed. Two women carrying babies fought their way to the foot of the gang plahk and to the strong arm that barred the way. ‘‘Leét us go in,” one of them shouted, with a | desperate wreach at the arm. But her good-by had to beshouted up to the deck. *Good boy, Trilby ; got to go,” the boys ing whistle-blasts, and then the unbidden | shouted to the fellow in the corduroy suit, tears began to start from many eyes and | with a great big revolver strapped to him. throats became lumpy. Wives and sisters | Hastily scribbled notes began passing deck besame crowded when most of the | passengers were aboard, for many friends of favored ones managed to get aboara for the goud-by. The ninety-two cabin pas- sengers made brief visits to the nice saloons and their quite comfortable | berths, and came on deck to see the ex- ; | i citement. The sense of the parting hour came an hour before leaving, when Captain Hig- | here apd there seemed to display a |rapidly from out of the crowd over their woman’s intuition that the future would | heads as everybody gladly passed not be all bright. A young fellow of the | them on, and *“God bless yous” steerage kigsed three good-by and didn’t | and ‘“good-bys’” were read by many speak. Many dove into corners to hide;on deck. A yellow - backed novel the tears and some in lighter mood would | was hurled thirty feet to the deck for “laugh to flze away.”’ | some one. It fell into the bay, but **The A. T. Hatch, the famous fruitgrower, | Colonel’s Christmas Dinner,” by Captain struggled through the sesthing mass to | Charles King, was fished out by some e gangplank to go, a hale, gray-bearded | volunteer and tossed to the deck. Some of his Everybody displayed an intense inter- iriends passed up to him a silken flag, | est in this scene and at the gangplank and about the staff was a bouquetof carna- | Captain Blair shouted like a skipperin a tions. He joined a crowd that climbed to | storm to the struegling guard at the other hat is all right!' and ‘“‘Let that second lady come up!”’ Carriages began to roll up late, as cabin passengers or their friends came down, and getting t e carriages on the wharf was like getting a car along Market street on election night. Bouquets and baskets of flowers, twenty of them, were passed or tossed to the deck, but there'll be no flowers at Klonayke. Men anxiously searched the crowd for faces they wished to see, and so did the few women passengers who had taken the chances, and adieux were waved and shouted momentarily. Photog- raphers were perched at every point of vantage. Old miners were plenty in the crowd, and scores of them looked on sadly, realizing that they were too old to go, anyway, and discussed the riches that were taken out at Michigan Bar and made fun of dude outfis they saw on deck. One of the iast to come aboard was S. W. Wall, THE CALL'S chief correspondent, who was met at the steamer by dozens of his friends who had warm hand clasps anda a wealth of good wishes for him. The decks were finally ordered cleared of visitors, and then came many brief and fervent good-byes, some tearful. At 2:40 . M. the steamer slowly swung away from the dock ané put forth. As she did 'so one mighty cheer from thou- sands of throats went up and the waving and cheering ended only when the steamer rounded the wharf and dis- sppeared from view, Many hundreds there were sorry they were not aboard. Captain Blair, Leon Sioss and Captain Dunleavy went down the bay on the steamer as far as Meiggs wharf, and the search at once instituted when the ship cast away brought forth two stow- aways, who accompanied the gentls- man mentioned to shore on the tug Ida W. ‘Williams, formerly fireman on when he was dragged forth from under the boiler. The other stowaway was found in the painter’s locker. The passage to St. Michaels will take about sixteen days, and the steamer is ex- pected back about September 5. T S A YOUNG LADY’S EYES. What Miss Grace Cralb Noted Amid the Jam and Hurrah About the Excelsior. “Got to go” was the cry as each passen- ger boarded the Excelsior, the first boat since the fever has seized the people going direct to the gold fields. More than 8000 peovle were present to watch the boat leave the docks. The crowd was composed of men, women and children. There were people everywhere— on the coal-bunkers, on top of surround- ing buildings, and even on the masts of the near-by vessels. Enthusiasm ran high and those on the docks were nearly asenthusiastic as the lucky ones who were able to procure pas- sage on the vessel. Cheer after cheer went up as some more or less well-knéwn person boarded the boat. Outside of the newspaper men the most popular man who left, judging from the manner in which ihe crowd weicomed him, was W. M. Rank, former superin- tendent of the Alameda Electric Railway., He was the recipient of one demijohn and fourteen bottles of—it must have been water. “Kitty'"” was another popular person. It took a long time to discover who *‘Kitty” was, but, after a great deal of trouble, she was found. Betore the boat left, though, she came to tronble for saying farewell to I Continued on Second Page. & [ I wisn T waSAS SURE OF A | FORTUNEAS I AM OF THAT ‘B;A MED MAL OE MER' FEELIN' ——— s . - T KNOWED ] WUZENT NEVER BORNED TO BE RICH ' MUTTERED THE STOWAWAY , A2 THE Y HEAVED HIN ASHOR, THE POLICE FORCE PERSPIRED FREELY, ~—— THE WAY THE LAST PASSENGEI HAD TO GET ABOARD, “IT MAY BE FOR YEARS ANG IT MAY BE FOREVER —BUT THE EXCELSIOR GOT AWAY FOR KLONLYKE AFTER AIL. One of them was Edward | the | BUCCANEERS steamer, and he had $300 in his pocke: | 'to sez» an American steamer laden with | WAIT FOR | UGGETS A Wild Tale of Piracy| Alarms the Nation’s Capital. RUMORS OF RED-HANDED CHINESE. A Revenue Cutter Wanted to Convoy the Portland and Her Gold. PRESIDENT WEARE PUURS IN DISPATCHES, The Portland Will Carry $2,000,000 on the High Seas and Captaln Kidg’s Ghost Is Abroad. WASHINGTON, D. C., July 28.—In-| formation that an attempt will be made by a gang of pirates, said to be Chinese, $2,000,000 worth of gold dust from the Kion- dvke bas been received atthe Treasury | Department. Officials there are consid- | ering the advisability of sending a rev- | enue cutter to convoy the vessel toa place of safety. A request for the protection of a cutter came from P. B. Weare of Chicago, presi- dent of the Northwestern Transportation and Trading Company. Eli Gage, son of tre Secretary of the Treasury, is an offi- cer of the company. ‘Weare telegraphed the department ves- terday that he desired to hbave a revenue cutter detailed to see the steamer Port- land safely out of Bering Sea, as she would bring a large amount of gold dust. The telegram also said that the company feared trouble, but did not state reasons for the belief nor the character of what was expected. It also sa:d that the cutter would not be needed from Unalaska to Seattle, **As we think we will be all right between those places.” From other sources the department heard that pirates might attempt to seize the Portland, and that it was expected that the vessel would $2,000,000. Another telegram was received from Weare to-day saying that steamers of the company would leave St. Michaels Au- gust 5 and 15 and September 15. Natur. ally the treasury officials are concerned over the rumors of a revival of buccaneer- ing. They are reticent about their au~ thority for the report that Chinese pirates have organized an expedition to capture the Portland, but show that they believe it bas reliable foundation. The uneasiness of Weare over the in- formation is indicated in other telegrams which were sent urging that the request be granted. He did not say definitely when the Portland would leave for Seattle, but the wording of one of the dispatches points to September 15. The dispatch said that a large amount of treasure would be carried by the last steamer. Weare suggested that the revenue cutter Bear be assigned to the duty. Thed partment will be unable to com- ply with this request, however, as the Bear is required for other service. In order to secure definite information in- quiry has been sent Weare to ascertain the date of the sailing of the vessel on which the gold dust is to be taken to Seattle. No cutter will be detailed until all necessary facts have been communi- cated to the department. Several revenue cutters attached to the Bering Sea fleet are available for service. Captain Hooper, the commanding officer of the fleet, was at Unalaska when last heard from, July 5. One Alaska transe portation company's steamers will leave for St. Michaels in a short time, carrying dispatches from the Treasury Department to Captain Hooper. It will also probably be laden with a supply of armsand am- munition for use in repelling any piratical attempt on the Portland. pereagel ol Whatever you see in *““*The Call”’ relating to the rich Klondyke piacers, you may rely upon as truth. — THE CROWN’S GRAB. It Will Take 10 and 20 Per Cent, Half the Ciaims and Then Be Enterprising. 2 OTTAWA, O~t., July 28.—For two days the Dominion Cabinet has been in session discussing plans for the orcanization of the Yukon district and at the close of the final sitting late last night the Govern- ment’s policy wae settled. The most important decision 13 to im- pose a royalty upon the output of the placer diggings. Under the regulations recently i1ssued the fee for registering a claim was fixed at $15, while an annual assessment of $i0) was to be paid by the bolder. Now in addition to this royalty 10 per cent will be levied upon the out- put of all claims yielding $500 per month and 20 per cent upon each c.aim yielding over that amount, Among those posted the opinion is freely expressed that it will be impossible to so supervise the output of the thous . convey about