The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 2, 1897, Page 1

VOLUME LXXNL-NO. 124; S N 4 AT TERRIBLE CONDITIONS DAWSON Famine, Typhoid and Scurvy the Horrid Triumvirate to Be Faced. NEWS BROUGHT DOWN BY THE NORTH FORK. Returning Prospectors Tell of an Early Win- ter in the North and T hreatened Starvation—Boats Blocked on the Yukon. A, . ALasgA, Sept. 23 (via steamer North Fork to Tacoma, Wash;, Oct. 1.)—Professor P. €. Richardson -of Seattle is among the returning passengers 1 on the North Fork.and brings soine inter- esting facts fromthe Klondike'dis!rict. He left Puget Sound on the 25:h 6f Juily, roing over the pass from. Dyea and reach- ing Dawson City on August 12 ‘Théra he remained six days and took the steamer Be Lael, reaching. there on justa month after leaving Seat- When Richardson arrived at Dawson on Augnst 12 ke found ‘a camp of nearly 69 tents and possibily & hundred cabins in the course of constriction. Vers little preparation for ttie winter was bemg made, most of the people faiing to appreciate he rigorous weather -that shey must uudergo. In the city nearly every one seemed to be employed, money was plenty, buta feeling prevailed that owing to the scar- city of provisions great destitution and winter. In the opinionof Mr. Richardson the ivod problem at Dawson City is but onée wo serious conditions that will exist re. The heaith of the people is the sther. Dawson jtself is built on a swamip &t the mouth of Klondike Creek, whic in the winter is frozen solid and in the sutm- | imer is thawed to a depth of about a foot. No provision has been made for drainage, There are few if any outhouses, and. all tke offal isdumped at the back dogrs or he streets, and when the warm: sun of May and June come ont it seems inévil- able that disease snould zage. - Already; during the months of July and August; there were fifteen deathsin Dawson'from typhoid and tbis befors the condition of ihe city was in.any way alarming Among others were the two Carlson brothers, who bad spent two. or three vears in the country, liad worked hard and lived oun insufficient food and had taked out one of ‘thie richest claims on Bouanza Creek the prévious fal!; and in J , having an opportunity to sell for ,000 cash, they did so, intendirig 107 fe- turn to Sweden, their native land. Within the month, while w ng for the boat to go down the river and before the money had been paid, they both'died. The quality of food which the more fortu- nate ones have been abie to procurs in sufficient quantiijes is such tbat it will leave its mark. Scurvy bas re ulted in y cases, and men weakened from:its >cts gladly ieave the country for a sea- un to recuverate bodily strength. Mi, Richardson is of ‘the opinion that 1t River wili be tlie stream .to re attention next. A number of men already there ‘und - he stimvpede may follow. There is, haweyer, no question but that El Dorado and Bonanza Creeks are niarvelou<y rich; and during the time that- he was at Dawson reports from prospects on Hunker Creek indicate that it might be equally. rich gs the other, There are » number of crecks entering into India River whicn have been pros- pected and are said to have good surface indications, but nothing ¢an be told until holes. have been put.down -to bedrock: Mr: Richardson will not hazard an 6pinicn. as to the amount of gold the reirurning Klondikers will bring ‘down. Many of the men who have made moneyexpect fo come "out ‘on ‘the boat which was billed to Jeave there the first and second week in September, but unless the river rises, so ‘the boals can pget acioss the Yukon flats; there will be: ne means of cetting them down the:river. Thereare several hundred of these men. The efforis of the company .are now be- g directed not ‘to- getting in sufficient supplies, which is regaidad as.a hopeless tusk, but fo getting empty. boats up to Dawson in ordsr to bring miners out. ceive are It ywill be pieasin: information that-Mr..! Richardson - brings to the effect that the niinesof Birch Creek, on ‘the. American side, are not by any’ means worked ‘out, aithough the greater part of -the popuja- iion has been drawn to Circle City. In addition to ‘the ~'good ‘mines ‘that are worked: there. now at a profit’ there are wilies of creeks that will pay$8 or $9 per day to the ‘raan, that will be - worked so s0on as transportation and provisions are cheapened “enough. to justily -cheaper wages than the present rate of $10 or $15 jer day. Minook Creek, several hundred miles below Circle City, flowing into the Yukon, s ’tne latest discovery, but it is difficuit i0 make a prediction as 1o 1ts richness. However, the Minosk Creek camp will be a:large one during thie winter, owing to the fact that the steamers being able to getover the Yukou flats will leave a large part of their passengers at Minook until spring. *'On the 15th of August,” saia Mr. Rich- fering mus{ prevail during the coming | thinks a ardson, “I i=arned that the two companies had had a conference oa the 10th of ihe mosnith, and estimated: that there: were about 500 peopie then in the Klondike district. - A" number of these ‘had: their | supplies for . the winter, having brought [-ibem in over the uirait, but the ‘arger i number were. either entir¢ly without out- [ fits or -only ‘partially prepared for the winter. The N. A, T.and T. Company had 400 paid orders tunfilled and wme . provisions with which'to fill. them, naving closed up their store entirely. The Alaska Com- mercial Company had sbotr 500 paid |‘0rders, one:third of which liad heen filted, and there ‘was on ‘band enough to fil about firtty more orders. “This ¢onstituted the visibie sipply at that dife, excepting about: 3500. sacks ot flour &t Circie ity | Wwhich ou the Ist of September they ‘had { /Dot been able to get tip the river. At tnat | thme they were expecting ti‘at the Bella, ithe ‘Alice; the Weare, tlic Healy and the Hamilton weuld be ‘able to bting up one {Toad, put tire ‘water was so low on the Yukon Huis on tha 1st of September that the Haniilton' was -not ‘able to:get at “Fort Yukon, "and the other bouts which left St Michael after the st of Sep- tember would liave to do the same, unlesy | thbe Tains ‘in - the ‘upper ‘coumiry. woufd raise-the river, a ibing ihat. usually hap- veus during “the’latter part of Augustor early part of September. Mayor Wood’s party arrived - at - St Michael. Afier spending several days. in dischargingjthefHumboldt cargo the entire crew, logelher with the passengers, began work - gonstrueting © iheir “barge and Jagnched toue same the morning of the | 16'a. They expected to ger away about ihie 19th or- 20th, but as- everything indi- Cated an early winter thev would prob- {abiy not get as far as Minook this season. The party in general was in good health. | Their barge; Seattle No. 1, was nicknamed “‘Muckluek” by the Iudiaus: Tihe Bering Sea, Captain Frank Worth, arrived at £t Michael ‘on the 6:h day of August with malerial for a sternwheel boat, to be placed on the waters of the TUpper Yukon with the mail and running into Dawson City and- the White Horse Rapids on the upper river. Captain ‘Worth wes joined on the 17th of Augnst by Captain Joues, in command of the Fisher Brothers, with a cargo of gooils from seventeen Seattle merchants. The steamer was finished and launched on the 8 b ol September and christened the May West, and started up the river o the morning of the 15.h of September. Captain’ Frank Worih is master. - T.e Fisher Brathers will return fo Seattle and | the Bering 8ea will go to Siberia fora cargo of Siberian ‘dogs, to be used in car- rving the United States mails between Juneau and Circle City. Mr. Hamilton says: 'y'Tbe majority -of the men whom I found at Dyea and Skaguay on my trip in bad good “ouifits; but the trail was so crowded and the facilities for putting the outfits oyer to the headwaters of ‘the river expeditiously were so limited that only those without outhtsor with small outfits or afew very fortunate ones; who secured the belpof Indians, would be able toget over the summit in time to get down to Dawson before closing in of w.nter. . From the condition of things on the trail and ai Dawson and on the latter river a winter of suffering never before experienced in the Yukon country-isin- evitable. “The Hamilton 1s at St. Michael, loaded | and ready 10 g0 to Andrewski. The other | bonts, when last heard from, were be- | {ween the mouth of the river and Fort | Yuksn, ‘Fatber Barnum, the other white | residents and the Indians ai St. Michaei, | predict an early winter. - Snow fell at St |'Michael on the 10ih of September, but it was all gone in a day or two. One sign | that has impre:sed the old inbabitants is | thie fact that the ducks and geese have leit for -the ‘south much earlier than 1 usual” W. A. SteEL. SuLA e | RUSH OF “TENDERFOOTES.” dl{can Arrivals’ at Dawson Expect ‘face, - Handreds who have. recently ar | upy baving- ‘to: discharge " her eargo i to Pick Up Gold, but They May Find-Only Hunger. SEATTLE, WasH, Ost. L-=Elmer May- ‘berry, .who returned 1o ‘this. city to-day on: the scliooner - Norin :Fork from St Micliael, beltevas that there will surely be staryation at'-Dawson- this winter. He stated to-nigit that when the,North Fork left St. Michagl'no provisions had gone up. to Dawson for weeks, buat every bit of newsiaat came from there wes to. the effect that hundreds were pouting into the city without food or outfits. Tne Yukon 1s 50 low 1hut boats are unable to get up the river, and the situation has never been 80 serious as 1t is at present. <& RNES A"‘ o PRICE}'EVE CENTS. FLAGSHIP BALTIMORE at the Hour She Was Reported Ready to Go Into Commission Yesterday. James Morrigon, an vld Wsconsin | Imainer who led a party into Duiwson City | by way of - Chiltoot, writes under date of | Anpust 20y i “The town is filling 4p wonderfully fast | with. people.. They are coming from all Gitectrons-and in ail sorts of ways. Every day refts and- boats getia from upriver, some of them just-able to flost. Thereare about 7002 people here -now. -All tbe steamers’ that have arrived from beiow have becn crowded, and overybody who comesinto camp alinost acts as thiougn ke | expectad to step Gff ¢ e boat and find a bag of gold warting for bim;" Great i3] their “diszppointment -when they - find their expectatious are not fuifilied. It is inipossivble to-give you acorrect impres- sion of things ag'tbey are hers: - Take the great foed guestion 07 instance. No one heve gares to feck that prebiem in the { 1 i rived bive no provisions with them and in an @ppalling number of cases nothing to get food with. *“They lefi iome becauss they were bard up, and vsed all their remaining resources in getiing here. Tiey are waiting arcund in fear and trembling for fear of the com- ing winter, when the miners will shut the lids of their griuo boxes and guard them ¢loser than the chesis titat hold their gold, the glitter of which is the causae of the whole trouble. - I really. believe some | of the tenderfeet who came-here expected | some miracle to be. performed, such, per- | haps, 45 the turning of ice and snow inio | bread. ‘Some of tiem wilt have to live on | it without the turaning this winter, or 1| wiss my guess. 'Thank the Lord, we have | plenty of provisions with us. 7The poor men are without any other means of sup- port than the outside workat $15 perday, and thax will not last as soon as winter begins, Huts and cabins are being built and preparations are rapidly going on for | the winter.” —-— FAMINE AND A FREEZE. it Is Salid That No More Boats Will Be Abie to Reach Dawson This Year. UNALASKA, Apasga, Sept. 22 (via steamer North Fork 1o Tacoma, Oct. L)— Last night the steam schooner North Fork reached this harbor from St. Michae!, having left ibere on the 16th, and this evening will steam out tor Puget Sound. She ‘came in for water and coal, having but severiy tons of fuel on board, which is barely sufficient under favorable weather 10 carry ber 10 Seattle. Captain Bash, the master, used all Lis persuasive powers to induce either the Alaska Commercial Company or North American Commer- cial Company to take on fifteen to thirty tans of fuel. During the entire morning bis efforts were unavailing, but it em- phasized the predicted coal famine here suggested in ‘my letter two or three days ago. Oaptain Bash was in a quandary and decided not to start for sea untila supply of coal was received here. Not wishing to delay bis vessel and pas- sengers for an indefin:te period the North American Company finaliy relerited and agreed to give him the f:w tons necessary to make the trip to Tacoma. Here the schooner will coal up and take on a cargo of lumber for Sin Francisco. On board the North Fork are thirty-four returning prospectors, thoroughiv discour- aged at their inebility to proceed up the Yukon to Dawson this season. Of tnis number thirteen were passengzers north on the Humboldt, ten of them having as- sisted in building a barge. Three went ap on the Merwin, while seventeen ware of the number who went up the river on the Hamilton as 1ar as Minock Creek and then decided to return on her. Profsssor Ricbhardson of Seattle is another passen- ger, he having gone into Dawson via Dyea and came out by wayv of St. Michael. From such informatior as couid be gleancd the indications of an early frecze on the Yukon are substantiated. Grave fears are expressed lest several of the boats from Dawson get frozen in long be- fore they reach the mouth. Interviews with the men on the North Fork indicate without question that the liquor traffic on the Yukon has been a strong tactor in the shoriage of supplies. Of nearly all the steamers that have reached Dawson City ibis summer nearly half the cargo has consisied of liquor. Tue feeling among the miners at. Dawson has become. so strong tbhat the Healy, aiter leaving St. Micuhael about the 1st of September, when 4buutl 10 start up the river received this tip from the officials of the N. A.T. Co.: ntinucd on Sccond Page. SUCCREDS IV KNG Coleonel Royce Commits: Suicide ‘in a2 New. . York Hotel. INHALES THE FATAL GAS. Evidently Planned - to Die Without Leaving a Clew to identity. STORY OF EMBEZZLEMENT REVIVED. While Treasurer of the Veterans’ Home He Approprlated the Funds of That Institution. NEW YORK, N. Y., Oct. 1.—Colonel Clark E. K. Royce, formerly trea<urer of the Soidiers’ Home at Yountville, Cal, who once tried to end his life at the Bur- lington Hotel, San Francisco, because of a strange shortage, succeeded finally in taking his life last night at the Grand ! Union Hotel in this city. The deea was done by inhaling illuminating gas. Toe hotel is on Forty-second street and Park avenue, No scrap of paper or anytbing hearing his name wae found on him, but he had written bis name and address boldly on the register when he arrived Tuesday last. His face was smooth shaven, with the exception of an iron-gray mus- tache. He went to the hLotel on Tuesday last and spent the greater port'on of bis time about the corridors. He went out very little ‘and spoke to few persons. He was last seen alive between 10 and 11 o’clock Iast evening, when ne retired to his room. He was called’ as usual at 8 o’clock this morning, but made no response. Another boy went to the room at 9:30 o'clock, when again he did not respond. The door was burst open and Royce was found lying in bed'dead. He was fully dressed, even to collar and necktie. He had taken off nis shoes and put on & pair of fine-knit | In his mouth was a rubber was connected with the gas bed slippers. tube wiich jet. - " e tube was new and had evidently beer purchased with his last cent, as his pc et-book was empty save for abone collar-button. well. The colonel had said little about his mission in thiscity. The last seen of him alive was last night, about 7 o’clock, when he was seen going through a hallway of the hotel. He went to his room and did ‘not leaveit. o far asis known he did not write any letiers during the night. None were mailed by bim through any messen- ger or employe of the hotel, and it could not te remembered whe'her he had writ- ten at all during hisstay at the hotel. The police were not notified, the man- ager of the hotel sending at length for the Coroner. No' business cards could be founa. He had two leather satchels, but they were not opened, according to in- structions from tive Coroner’s office. - AH the windows of the room were closed 10 prevent the escape of the gas. The ru- ber tube in his mouth, which was econ- He was dressed extremely officials failed to notify the police except 1 a roundabout way word of the case was redeived ‘at headquarters and dstectives were detailed to investigate it. A. K. Ragce, a carpenter and builder, of 663 Eust Seventeenth street, identified the suicide to-nightas his brother Clark K. Royerof Ban Francisco. Mr Royce had received u letter this afternoon from his | brother teiling him that he was going to | commut suicide. He hurried as rapidly as | possible 10 the Grand Union Hotel, but he was too late. The letter was as fol- | lows; GRrAND Uyxioy HorEL, Sept. 29. Dear Biother: The biadder trouble is return- ing again with unbearsble pain and sanoy- ance, and 1 bave détermined to put an end to my misery. On receipt of this come to the hotel and lovk after my ‘corpse; it will prob- ably be in possession of the Coroner. See that {t is cremated, as 1 have expressed myseli you that ‘this is.1he only prover way ‘| ot dispostag of rhe corruptible body. Wire ‘Hariv and keep theashes st the Columbarium for his disposal. - Truly yours, CLARKE. " The body will be cremated to-day at Fresh:Pond Crematory, according to the wishes of the deceased. ol o ROYCE’'S CAREER HERE. Having Embezzled the Funds of the Vaterans’ Home He Trled to Commit Sulclda, Colonel Royce's tragic death is the last act of ‘& sell-wasted, u self-ruined life. is the letting down of the curtain on 2 | dredry drama where one elected to steep his honorable name 1n dishonor, blot his soldierly record with crime, prove recre- ant to the trustof his loyal friends and betray the cause of his old battle com- rades. It was a life suffered to go out in in- famy. It was tempied away from righs, and unmerc.ful disaster followed faster till it destroyed itcelt. Years ago, when Colonel Royce saw the shadow of a prison wail falling over him he made the first attempt at suiciae. It was on the night of April 15, 1893, that he was found in a bedroom at the Buriington House on Market street, ad- joining the Grand Hotel, in this city, bleeding freely from a deep, gaping wound in the back of his head. Certain of his iriends tried to st:ow that murder was the object of tle tragedy, or that Royce in- jured snecies of nervous insanity. Relatives took charge of the wounded man, and their efforts to shroud the mat- ter in secrecy, going so far as to balk the police in every dirsction when the author- ities'tried to ferret out the matter, led to the exposure of Royce’s career of crime. He was an embezzler. As the trusted treasurer of the Vsterans’ Home Associa- tion, he had been able to squander the funds in his care till about $20,000 had dis- appeared. By falsifying his returns to the secre- nected with the gas j»i, was taken by him from the bathroom. Apparently he had made an effort to remove all means of establishing his identity., Except for the entry upon the register there was nothing to give a clew to his name. As the hotel Iu} him-elf while suffering under a | tary of the association and representing that certain amounis of money bad been depasited at certain times, when in reality the'fonds had been appropriated for his own use,he managed to stave off exposure for awhile. But his explanations were not satisfag- | tory and an investigation of his accounts was commenced. Then Royce knew the evil day was at hand and be made a wretched at'empt at suicide in the Burlington. While his possibly well-meaning friends were de- ceiving the detectives the experts were relentlessiy going over his books, findins evidences of crime everywhere. Many methods of fraud had been putin opera- tion by the defaulting treasurer. Large quantities of -supplies for the home had been entered as purchased at prices far iu advance of what thev could have been'bonght in open market. Colonel Royce was tried, and although ably defenaed, was sentenced to seven years in the penitentiary. The cass was immediately carried to the Supreme Court, where it was thrown out on the ground that a demand had never been made upou Royce for the money alleged to have beer em be zzled. Uwon his discharge from custodv he at- tempted to practice law in this city, bat { with indifferent success, and leit for the East a short time ago. He leaves a | widow and ason who is an attorney in 1 this city. | FOUR THOUSAND FOR 4 HUSBAND. Mrs. Stephens Falls in Love With Conductor Truitt and Buys Him From His Spouse. ST. LOUIS, Mo., Oct. 1.—According to the Post-Dispatch John A. Truitt, a con- | ducter on the Nortbern Central Electr ¢ streetcar line, was sold by his wife for $4000 10 a woman who declares that she loves the man more than his wife does. The 1.deMl was ‘the ‘sequel 10 the following re- markable statement to Mrs. Truitt bya Mrs. Stephiens, who lives in this city with her father: “Mrs. Truitt, I love your husband and | I want him. I have traveled the world | over and he is the first man I ever loved. | I will give you $4000 cash for im if you will give him up.’” Truitt, who is the father of four child- ren, stems to agree to the deal. Itis stated that last Tuesday Mrs. Truitt, knowing that her husband loved another, attempted to take her life Ly swallowing a big dose of morphine. SRR DTE Appointed Surgeon-General. WASHINGTON, D. C.,, Oct. 1.—The President to-day appointed Newton C. Bates United States Navy Surgeon-Gen- eral and Chief of the Bureau of Meaicine and Surgery of the Navy. RUSHING WORK AT THE YARD Large Force of Laborers Kept Busy at Mare Island. BALTIMORE IS READY FOR SERVICE. But the Expected Order to Go Into Commission Fails to Arrive. MEN TO MAN THE VESSEL VERY SCARCE. Attentlon WIIl Next Be Directed In Getting * the Charleston Rsady for Sea. VALLEJO, CaL., Oct. 1.—After weeks of driving work day and night to get her in readiness the flagship Baltimore, contrary to expectation, did no. gointo commis- sion to-day. Rear-Admiral Kirkland, the command- ant of the Mare Island Navy-yard, has bzen most anxious to have the ship in readiness by to-day and less than a week ago he notified the foremen of the various departmients that she must be ready for her complemsnt of officers and crew on the date sp cified if tlie extra large force on her had to be doubled. At 11:30 o’clock to-day the commandant notified the Navy Department by wire {hat the Baltimore was ready to go into commission, but at that hour she looked anything but the trim and tidy man-of- war she shouid. A single coat of white paint, hastily daubed on over the dull- gray priming, made her sides appear rough and streaked. On her decks the greatest confusion prevailed. Several hundred men were engaged in calking and planing the decks, testing the gun- carriages, vutting the finishing touches on the oificers’ quarters and fo’castle, painting, seraping and a thousand and one other things that bad to be done be- | | fore sne could be pronounced completed. Every passsge-way was littered with lumnber, shavings, tool chests and paint pails until it seemed to a land man as though 1t would require at least a month to clear everything away. Not a pound of stores had been placed on board, not a&ctarpet laid or a curtain hung, and had be: officers and crew been marched over the gangplank they wou!d have been in a sorry plight. Fortunately for all conc¢srned no such orders were re- ceived from Washington and nobody at the navy-yard knows when they will be. It is quite probable that the heads of the department themselves are puzzled over the matter, for it is no secret that there are no men at the yard to send to the Baltimore. Even her officers have not been detailed yet, at least only {four have been ordered to duty, and who her captain wiil be is merely conj cture. It is the general belief, thouch, that Captain N. M. Dyer, now in commaud of the Philadei~ phia, will be assigned to the position. Itis also thought that all the other officers and the crew of the Phiiadelphia will be transferred in a body to the Balti- more, snd - that the former ship is now on her way from Honolulu for that purpose. Nobody will admit that word was received by either of the steamers that arrived from Honolulu this week 1o the effect that the Philadelphia was about to :ail for home, but the confident assertion of some of the higner officers that she will arrive withiu a week isa good indication that some such word has been received. ‘These officers declare that no orders will be issued placing the Baltimore in commission until the arrival of the Phiia- deiphia. Admiral Kirkland said to-day that he had no idea who would command the Baltimore or where her crew was to come from. He was of the opinion, though, that the Philadelphia would arrive soon, and that her officers and crew would be transferred in & body. Regarding thedis- patch that Lieutenant George M. Stoney had started frorma the East for Mare Island, in charge of 100 sailors, the admiral said he did not know where the men were, when they would arrive or what dispos:l would bs made of them. They might be ordered to the Baltimore, but that number would fall far short of her full complement. Had the Baltimore been ordered into commission to-aay it would have bothered the commandant greatly to find a suffi- cient number of cailors and marines to make a creditable showing at the uvere- mony. The coast defense v-scel Monterey iu- stead of going out of comwmission will dock Monday for a cleaning. Bat this wiill only require three or four days, and ber crew will remain on board. There are no available men on board the receiv- mg-ship Independence, so that unas. signed blue-jacketsare exceedingly scaice, The commandunt would undoubdtedly have taken a detail from each of the several ships at the yard, while the marines on the Marion would have been pressed into service. Tzken altogether it was a most pecuilar siate oi aifairs that prevailea to-day. The four officers who have been or- dered to the Baltimore are: Lieutenant William Braunersieuther, navigating of- ficer; Lieutenant Godairied Blocklinger, executive officer; Paymaster Edward Bel- lows, vay inspector; First Lieutenant Dion Wiiliams, U. & M. C., marine of ficer. Although the heavy work on the Balti- 4 COLCNEL ROYCE, Who Commit ed fuicidz in a New York Hotel by Inhaiing lluminating Gas. more has been completed, all the depart- ments are ranning foll force, and it is “known definitely tnat the cruiser Charles