The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 29, 1897, Page 2

THE SAN FRANCI come trooping through the snow a score or more of painted women to the dance houses. Having taken off their furs they circulate awhile through the rough crowd, the fiddler taking his cue from the cracked piano. A man with little to recommend him even here other than a very pene- trating voice cries a waltz, and that “nobody is barred from dancing,” and the business of the night is on. There is no note of expression of pleasure, no hilarity. Wearing their fur parkeys — shirt-like affairs without buttons or pocke nd their mukluks of fur boots, th walk through the figures in sort of way, and seem only glad when it is through with and they can hurry with their partners to the bar. The gayety of the women all but their ps s of the moment know to | be a business matter. The gaming tables are serious affairs here, as they rywhere. Toward morning grow noisy, of course, but :ldom an outbreak. In the strang athering may be found a uniform or two of the mount- ed police; the only bit of picturesque dressingto be seen here—a plain, neat- fitting dark suit of navy blue, short jacket, broad yellow stripes down the legs of the trouse: that folds over at the top and buttons down on the right side, the fold being faced with the same yellow as the stripe of the trousers. The overcoat is of the same material with long cape. Big buckskin mitts complete the outfit, and the man who carries him- self in it, as all of them do, looks very natty and intensely respectable. The uniform of the officers has more buttons and gold cord about it, espe- cially that of Captain Constantine. Constantine is quite the man for the | plac a big-framed, strong-visaged | man, with the eye and manner of a martinet, but by no means without loins. He has been in the Government service twenty-five years; was Chief of Mounted Police in Manitoba and now has command of the entire Yukon | district. Fc Fovernment and a time he was the he being Gold Commissioner c or; officer, besides commanding } the police until those separately ap- | pointed officials arrived. He was sta- | tioned at Forty Mile until the first of | October, when the barracks being near- ly completed, he came here. He has put a stricter code of rules in force here with his own men as well as with the gamblers, has taken charge of the dis- tribution of mail and in many other ways made his presence felt for good. The next officer in command, Ser- geant Major Davis, also a tried man in the service and figured prominently and creditably in the Riel rebellion. Services of the Church of England cld every Sund. at the barracks. Services are also held in the Catholic | Church, situated at the extreme north- ern end of the town. they have built there, besides a substantial church, a | hospital in which there are at present twenty-three patien suffering chiefly | from typhoid malaria. Father W. H. Ju - in cha , and has enlisted several male nur as the Sisters of | th Cross, who set out for this Holy , were, like & 0 many others, una- to get he 1 ble The third church is without any particular denomination and is held in a hall near the center of town. The residence part of the town is northward in the direction of the hos- pital, cabins being built without much regard to street lines. On the hill | side and ond the townsite claims the cabin-builder simply stakes off ai lot and puts up his house and the rep- Tesentatives of the Government come | along and tax him a few dollars for it and for the timber that is in it. The le of three claims on Bonanza which took place on the 26th of Octo- | ber acted almost like a new discovery t in mining. nuinber 27, 28 and 29 Discovery. They were pur- | d by J. B. Healy, of the North ican Trading and Transportation any, one of the two big compa- operating here. According to Mr. -, the price paid was $325,000 and he bought for the company of which he ocal head. | He says the purchase is not a specu- Jation, as it is the intention of the com- | pany to work the c Others who | claim to know some the deal | say Captain He in quickening the intere The above claims w Bratnober, who spent some time here | in the spring negotiating for these and | other claims as the representative of | ds and English capital- | rge capital, was unable to property he desired at fig- buld pay, and he went away, , it is believed, his business in hands of others to be carried At any rate, this is the ction that has taken place here for some months. Since then Captain Healy has consum- mated the purchase of claim 31, for which he paid $108,000. He offered a like figure and even more for No. 30, as he was desirous of securing the group of five claims, but Skiff Mitchell, who , would not sell. He put a price on the claim of $250,000, and this Healy would not pay; at least, he has not ac- ceded fo terms at this writing. The first three claims purchased, 27, 28 and 29, were owned by Alexander McDonald, James Doughty, Frank Densmore, John Curry and Henry ana Jrwin Willett. Alexander McDonald is one of the big mine-owners and opera- | tors of this cit He has interests in| several other valuable claims. His in- terest netted him $90,000. He is re- ported in town to-day to have been quietly married a few nights ago to Miss Maroony, who keeps a lodging- house and saloon at the Forks of Bo- nanza. Miss Maroony came here last spring and ran a restaurant in Dawson until provisions ran out, when she | built the lodging-house up the creek. She has been the social star here since.| her arrival, many private dances being given at her house. a roune-faced brunette, and wears glasses. McDonald is quite a religious man, and his liberal subscriptions are chiefly responsible for the hospital and Catholic church buildings. | James Doughty is better known as| “Nigger Jim.” He is another man struck by the big luck, luck that does not seem to hunt for the shining marks in this country. Rather it seems to seek for “easy marks.” “Nig- ger Jim” is a fine-looking fellow phys- ically, big and shapely and rather graceful of carriage, but he is not strong in the head. He comes from the South, and his Southern tongue has given him his nickname. His share of the $325,000 was also $90,000. He “ginned up” the town the night he got his money and danced till day- light, all the doves of the dance- Jeav the through. Jargest completed trans | always | sandapeakless cap | | per ton. The locators will form a com- She is about 30, houses fluttering about him. He has kept up a merry dance ever since. He stood by a roulette table until the keeper had $2200 of the $90,000. He left $8000 with Jim Keery for safe keeping, and, when the following night (Sun- day) Keery's saloon was robbed, he lost it. “Nigger Jim” will probably be working for wages in spring. Frank Densmore is an old Yukoner, a miner and a ploneer well known along the length of the river, with friends wherever known. He went out this summer by Michaels route. His share was $60,000. The other four received their propor- tion of $85,000 that completed the pur- chase prices. Still later Healy bought claim No. “9 on Bonanza, paying fo it $169,000. The owner was Charles Jenkins, one of the mounted police, who, when he secured this claim, was receiving $60 a month and found. He is going out with a very satisfled carriage. It will | be noted that the price paid for claims rises as they go up the creek. , Excellent reports come from the new diggings being opened on Bonanega and | El Dorado creeks. Upper Bonanza is | developing especially well, although bedrock has not been reached on any of the digginge at the upper extremity. In the eighties on Bonanza a dollar per pan has been taken out of gravel, and intense interest is manifested in the further development. Gold Com- | missioner Fawcett and clerks in his office have located on the creek as far | up as the hundreds. | There is little to be said to change | the general aspect of things with re- | gard to the mines as presented in my last dispatch. The effort on the part of mine owners to reduce the rate of wages to one dollar an hour still con- | tinues as does also the determined op- position to it by the miners. Meet- | ings have been Neld by the miners which have been largely attended, and resolutions passed denouncing the ef- fort at reduction and declaring an in- | tention not to submit. Committees ap- pointed for the purpose have patrolled the creeks, visiting every mine for the purpose of getting the names of those who might be working at the reduced figure, but no man was found who would confess. In several instances, however, the committee secured infor- mation from other sources that it deemed reliable and twice pulled men out of different mines with ropes and | warned them not to return to work until they pald the regulation wage. This disturbance has prevented a great many men seeking work at | wages in the mines who would other- wise do so. The mines are being worked very generally on the “lay” system, from | 25 to 50 per cent being allowed. Men with provisions have no difficulty in securing lays and even the late comers thus provided have often secured good | ground. The best ground, not long ago allotted, is being portioned out in small pieces and some claims have as many as seven cabins upon them. The search for quartz, however, is the thing of absorbing interest in min- ing circles. Quartz miners and quartz | experts have been engaged in it for months and with considerable success. There can be no doubt the hills con- | tain immense deposits of gold-bearing | quartz, for pieces of rock are picked up every day and on e-ery creek. The | iv. A. T. & T. Co. have run a tunnel into the hills just opposite Dawson on the Yukon and have found good rock. They are not working it, and will not, Captain Healy says, until there is cheaper labor and better facilities here. | A quartz location was made by Joe' | | Dillon, mining expert and prospector, on the 16th of October, and he claims to have found very rich rock. On the 2d | of October four other locations were recorded on the same lode and five | others on another location less than a | mile away and runing exactly parallel. The first rock crops out on the face of | hills bordering the Kiondike River at | the mouth of All Gold Creek, and the second ledge a mile farther south. Both are said to extend through to and make their appearance on Too Much | Gold Creek. Both are taken up by the | same parties. The veins are 100 feet in width. Con- | siderable prospecting has been done on them. A charge of dynamite was put into one ten days ago, and pieces of rock torn up was assayed, and it is re- ported to have carried from $90 to $1800 pany at once, with the purpose of de- velopment. All of them are extremely enthusiastic and insist that they have found the “mother lode”—the dream of every prospector on earth. They are: E. J. Heacock, formerly United States | Deputy Marshal and son of United States Commissioner Heacock of San Francisco; John G. Fritz, member of the Washington State Senate from Snohomish County; A. R. Joy, lawyer, of Portland, Or., and W. H. Wellburn, a Puget Sound sawmill man; who has a sawmill here, which he brought over the trail. These four have located 6000 | feet altogether on the two veins. They expect to begin active development as early mext year as is possible in face of the conditions. A great effort is being made to have the Government at Ottawa reconsider the recently enacted mining laws, which reduce the size of placer claims from 500 to 100 feet, and which impose | such a heavy tax upon the product of the mines. These are very vexatious to the miners,” and if enforced will cer- tainly put a great check upon if they do not entirely stop prospecting in the Queen’s dominions. There is already a | tendency to cross the line into Uncle Sam'’s country, and it is a safe predic- tion if no new finds are made this win- ter or next spring that approach in | some degree the El Dorado class Circle | City will again become the metropolis of the Yukon. The number of miners | who are located on the favored spots here is small compared with the great number who are prospecting. The pros- | pector is daunted and dismayed by the | new. laws. The prospector’s life at its best is a gamble, with the odds largely against him. Here, near the Arctic Circle, it is a labor against ice and snow, muck the river and St. | STRIKES DAWSON CITY, Nov. 22. October, and he claims to have lode and five others on another and running exactly paraliel. Much Gold Creek. Both are The veins are 100 feet in width. rock torn up were assayed an from $9o to $1800 per ton. tremely enthusiastic and insist s Frites Snohomish County ; A. R. Joy, R R e e e e e e e e e A begin active development as face of the conditions. operation, and that the development of the country now being speeded under the influence of the great goM discov- erfes would be paralyzed. These of- ficials are the local high authorities and what they say must have great weight with the Government. A pub- lic meeting was held in Pioneer Hall on Thursday evening, November 4, at which a memorial was drawn up ask- ing the Canadian Government for the repeal of the laws. It will be carried to Ottawa by a delegation of three, Maxim Laundryman, D. E. A. Willis | and E. J. Livernash, named at a subse- quent meeting. The belief is general that the laws will not be enforced—that when Ot- tawa comes to a full realization of the | situation here the Government will re- scind its action. With this belief the prospectors keep digging in the ground and the stampede scrambles over the hills and up the icy gulches by batta- lions on the trail. epidemic of stampedes lately. A stam- pede is started in various ways. A prospector gives the cue to a few friends that he has found something, and the rush to get next to the dis- covery begins. The run is generally through an unbroken country, little or no trail to guide, and banked with snowdrifts, the creek may be many miles away and the stampeder | be compelled to have provisions and blankets with him in the often to camp out in frightful weather. The office of the Gold Commissioner | is kept crowded and busy for days fol- | The recording fee | lowing their return. is $15, and the revenue of that office might pay the expenses of the Cana- dian Government. The Canadian Gov- ernment, by the way, has at last made arrangements for the carriage of reg- ular malls under the protection of the police, and a party starts to-day to make the first trip. Posts are estab- lished at the head of Lake Linderman and at the foot of lakes Lebarge and Tagish and at White Horse Rapids. Contracts have been let for the build- ing of barracks at Linderman. I send this dispatch, however, by a party of seasoned miners, under the leadership of J. S. Barnes. Mr. Barnes. with his partner, Harry Dobson, is among those who are fortunate in own- ing some of the best properties on both Bonanza and El Dorado,'and is, never- theless, forced to stop work upon them by the conditions that I have described. Influenced by other private considera- tion, Barnes will lead the vanguard of the army over the frogen river and break the trail to Dyea for the great number who will follow. I have said that this army, or the larger part of it, takes its long and perilous march because the individuals that compose it failed to bring with them provisions necessary for their subsistence. They have suffered much and will hagve suffered much more be- fore they reach their homes. It is not likely that the hard luck stories they will have a right to tell will stop the stampede of next year. Certainly, thelr experience should be sufficient to warn all who come to bring a year’s supply of food and clothes. They who depend upon the steamers mext year will as certainly be disap- pointed, for it is beyond the possibility of the boats that ply here or that may be sent up by new companies to supply in the brief time that the sea- son allows the demands even of those who are already here. In face of the fact that greatly increased facilities will certainly prevail next year for bringing in supplies, it must be borne in mind that those who came in this vear with supplies will have consumed them, and, instead of the 3500 people that formed the population at the be- ginning of this year, the number al- ready here and dependent upon the transportation companies, next year The demands of this number cannot be met, and the terrible march out over the ice will confront every man | who does not by his own effort and foresight make it unnecessary. As for the rest—the opportunity that the creeks and gulches offer to those who come to dig—I need not add any- and moss to reach a bedrock that may hold nothing of value. It must be rich ground that carries enough in a hun- dred feet to reward the miner for a search under such conditions. He knows. better than anybody how very rare is very rich ground. Over the line, less than 100 miles down stream, Uncle Sam offers him 120 acres wher- ever he finds gold. That is the reason- ing that is already carrying many pros- | | making locations and very many new rectors who left it only a short time since, back into American territory. In the meantime the protest against the new and harsh laws here is gen- eral. Gold Commissioner Fawcett and Commander Constantine of the mount- | from end to end. thing to what has been said. There were about 3500 people here at the be- ginning of this year. They were nearly all miners. Orders for outfits were filed with the companies to the | number of 1800, and accompanying | each order was cash to an average of $500 each. That is to say, 50 per cent of the inhabitants had $500 each on | deposit. That fact argues its own case. The new comers have been busy creeks and gulches have been staked It is more than likely the excitement that prevails outside will be taken advantage of by | so-called investment or other com- 3 ed police long ago sent a remonllru_.npoi panies organized for the purpose. to SAN FRANCISCO MAN by Joe Dillon, mining expert and prospector, on the 16th of 2d of October four other loCations were recorded on the sams of hills bordering the Klondike River, at the mouth of All Gold Creek, and the second ledge a mile furthar south. said to extend through to and make their appearance on Too Considerable prospecting has been done onthem. A charge of dynamite was put into one ten days ago and pieces of the The locators will form a company at once, with the purpose of development. lode—the dream of every prospector on earth. J. Heacock, formerly United States Deputy Marshal and son of United States Commissioner Heacock of San Francisco; John member of the Washington State Senate from W. H. Welburn, a PugetiSound sawmill man, who has a saw- mill here which he brought over the trail. located 6000 feet altogether on the two veins, There has been an | with | rush and | will have increased to nearly 10,000. | RICH QUARTZ —A quartz location was made found very rich rock. On the location less than a mile away The rock crops out on the face Both are taken up by the sams parties. 1 it is reported to have carried All of them are ex- that they have found the mother They are: E. lawyer, of Por'(l:md, Or., and These four have They expect to early next year as is possible in : to Ottawa warning the Privy Council that only harm could result from their | There 1s no doubt that much of the | | float wildeat and worthless property. isuklns and stampeding referred to | has been done at the instance of these | companies and for this purpose, so that there will be no lack of Klondike | and Yukon claims on the mining mar- kets next year. It will be for the buyer to distinguish between the gen- uine properties and the fake. | Next to the big purchase of bpnanza claims by the N. A. T. and T. Co., the | most important business transaction here—more important than that, in- deed, in its wider bearing, is the entry into the field of commercial competi- tion of the Hudson Bay Company. It came in through an alliance with- the Alaska Commercial Company. The papers were signed, it is said, several months ago in San Francisco. Iwill add here a few pages from my diary, which gives further details of | the more important happenings re- | ferred to here or will serve to convey | a clearer idea of the life of this far northern camp than is given other- wise. October 17.—Jack Dalton, carrying my | dispatch of even date, started up stream early in the morning, weather very cold and the ice has begun running in the ri again. He has snow shoes and will have horses at the Pelly, but no dogs. He expects by to-morrow to overtake his party of a dozen who left yesterday in poling boats gnd has every confidence that he will get out speedily. J. J. McKay arrived down with a barge load of eleven girls fgr the dance houses. None of them had provisions. Monday, October 18.—With blankets and provisions for three days started with three others for the forks of El Dorado and Bonanza. There Is to be a meeting there in the morning of miners to take some action with regard to the strike. The Klondike and Bonanza creeks are frozen and the trail is good. We car- | rled our packs and made good time, pass- ing through a constant procession of | packers and dog teams. The sharp air vibrated with the oaths of the drivers and the cries of the dogs. We passed several women on the trail, and one go- ing our way kept our pace to her des- tination. The Bonanza, as we got up some distance, was overflowed with water and the trail led along the rough side- hill, although the packers and their steeds slashed along the creek. We met in the wood four men carrying the body of a man in a blanket. His name was Wm. White, and his home was in Victorla. He had died of pneumonia in his cabin on Bonanza. They were taking the body to Dawson for burial. The body ‘was slung between two of the men, while the other two rested. Jugt before we came up to them they laid their burden in the snow and sat down bestde it to rest. We arrived at the mouth of El Dorado at 6 o'clock and stopped at the Miner's Home. Quite a town had been built here, on the steep side of the Bonanza facing El Dorado. The Miner's Home is a saloon, not a hotel. It is a big log house with a windowless loft. Travel- ers are allowed to spread their blankets on the floor of the loft and to cook their coffee on the stove in the saloon with- out charge, although of course they are expected to patronize the bar where drinks or cigars cost 75 cents each. Tuesday, October 19.—The meeting of miners was attended by about 300 men. | A committee was appointed to visit every claim on the two creeks to learn how many men were working at one dollar an hour and to report their names at a meeting to-morrow. I went with the committee all the way up Bonanza as far as the claims are being worked, which is in the nineties, but only one man was found who could be thought to be working for the dollar an hour. The men called upon him to come out of the hole and put a rope down to him. He took hold of it and was hauled out. They told him that he must quit work until he was paid full wages. He went into his cabin and the men passed on. Our party continued up Bonanza for a mile past the last stake, which is numbered i62. Excellent indications are found in the new diggings, wherever the work has progressed far enough. In the eighties from six cents to one dollar were report- ed in the gravel. Away up the creek we | met a man coming down. He was carry- i ing a small pack but was evidently worn | out and had the look of a man who had | had an experience. He asked us where he was and said he had been lost in the | hills for two days, that we were the first | human beings he had seen in that time; that he had had little sleep as the. cold was too severe. We directed him to a cabip down the creek, where we had lunched and left some provisions for our return. When we returned we knew he had found the cabin and the provisious. October 23.—Thermometer 18 below. A mist rises from the river almost‘'to ob- scure it. A boat containing five came down and attempted a landing but could not make in to the shore, there being so much floating ice between them. When it seemed certain that they could not get in, one of the men took a line and at- tempted to reach the shore over the float- ing ice. He had hardly started when the boat was pushed suddenly further away by the interference of ice and the rope was torn from him. He failed to get in and it was impossible to reach him. He got on a cake of ice and the four men passed on down the river around the curve and out of view. When last seen through glasses thé men in the boat were struggling to reach the man on the ice. Friday, October 20.—“Nigger” Jim, with something of the $90,000 he is said to have received for his interest in the big sale .olBounuohlm..be‘nwn-n'm | socks and moccasins. | Is Calling Now,” they jolted town to-night. People say it was a fair imitation of a day In June—last June. Everybody was welgome. There was a smell of red liquor in the frosty night air. The violin at the M. & M. began to hic- cough before midnight, but the dancers kept better step to the uneven measure than they had been able to do before. “Nigger” Jim can dance. He Is as grace- ful as was the elder Fritz Emmet, and the fiddle and the piano seemed to dis- cover a likeness as he waltzed with the little blonde that came over the trail with “Snohomish Joe,” his trim -legs dressed in knickerbockers and german “Softly the Cuckoo through, time after time, during the night, quit- ting it to go and take a drink at Jim's expense but returning to it immediately as the next waltz was called. The leather-lunged man who calls the dances developed a new register in his voice. The Mamaluke Wolf dogs rested this night while they listened to that stac- cato. It should be said to the credit of “Nigger” Jim that he tried not to play favorites to-night, but the other blonde —the taller one—became jealous of her mate, and a long-time friendship was in- terrupted, for the little one was very successful in her attentions to the lion of the night and danced the companion part to the Fritz waltz most frequently. But blondes and brunettes alike danced every dance with somebody; a line of familiar faces stood along the bar hour after hour, the atmosphere thickened with the -fumes of alcohol and smoke. | The blondes and brunettes tried as they danced to join in the drunken songs that ricochetted in from the bar-room. The candles burned out and were renewed. “Nigger” Jim gave over dancing and sat down by the roulette wheel with the little blonde to watch beside him while he lost over two thousand dollars in an hour. One by one the crowd staggered out into the bitter cold and the next day began. Saturday, October 20.—The watchman on guard at the barracks of the mounted police reported having seen the frozen body of a man pass down the river on an ice floe at daybreak. . Sunday, October 3L.—Thermometer eight degrees below. Went by way of the shore ice to the Indian village a few miles down the river for the purpose of buying moccasins, there being none to be had at the store. Found nearly all the Indians sick with pneumonia, the | men particularly. A young, jauntily dressed Episcopalian minister, accompanied by a doctor, was moving from tent to tent, doing what he could for them. The round tepees made of skins were fringed with icicles on the outelde, caused by the snow melting from the top, where the smoke escaped. The fire In the tepee made It quite warm and very smoky within, but the crevices about the edges admitted cold air. With feet to the fire and head in line with the tepee vents, the Indians coughed and moaned. I helped the priest to carry an ald fellow from one of these faulty tents to a log cabin, where he would have some hance. All the way down the shore I found small hoats frozen up in the ice, where those who could come in, then un- able to land at the city, had succeeded in getting in through the agency perhaps of the eddy in the river that is formed there. ‘A number had remained where they managed to land and built their cabins. Wednesday, November 3.—A raft with forty head of dressed beef went down the river before daylight this morning. It belonged to Charles Perdue, who, with another man, was on it at the time. Not knowing where they were, they attempt- ed to make a landing about ten miles above the city. John Peterson got ashore over the floating ice with a line and tried to make it fast. The line slipped and he ran ahead and tried again. It slipped or breke and he ran ahead again and failed again. He continued this run along the shore over the smooth ice, un- able to make the rope hold the tremen- dous swing of the raft, until wholly ex- hausted, he was ¢ompelled to let the rope 0. He was without hat or coat or means of making a fire and had no notion of his whereabouts. With no other purpose than to prevent freezing, he kept on down the river. A turn of the stream brought a light into view. He thought it was some camper and hurried forward. As he traveled more lights appeared and he finally realized that he was within sight of Dawson. The raft will probably | 8o on to Circle City. Thermometer eight below. Thursday, November 4.—A boat with a | party of six, chiefly hailing from Che- halis, Wash., made a landing to-day. It was coated inside and out with ice. It | was the last to arrive of three boats be- longing to one party and was so far over- due that it had been given up for lost. ‘With the party was H. B. M. Miller of San Francisco, who was picked up by the others in a shipwrecked condition at the canyon. He left San Francisco with a party of four, two of whom went back, leaving him and a young man named Crane in possession of an elaborate out- fit for four. They were joined by two other men named Darling and Johnson. Their boat ran into the walls of the can- yon and was stove in. Miller and Dar- ling sprang into the river with a rope in an effort to reach a sandbar near there. They became tangled in the rope and were compelled to let it go. They reached the bar in time to see their boat turn over, and Johmson and Crane go with it. Johnson climbed on to the bot- tom of the boat and threw a rope over Crane and pulled him up also. The mast of the boat is supposed to have struck bottom and retarded its progress to- wards the rapids below. They were fair- ly entering them, however, to certain death when another boat came by and the two men sprang into it as it passed. Miller and Darling were taken off the bar and carried through the rapids by another boat. All they had was carried away and lost. Leaving a $5000 equip- ment, Mr. Miller says he arrives here with nothing but a suit of clothes and his nerve. He may employ the latter to carry him out again. Friday, November 5.—It has just de- veloped that among the people who float- ed down stream during the period when the ice was running light was a man and woman doing an elopement. The man and the woman and the deserted hus- band were all prominent and of good family and the affair is entirely unique. The husband, when he found what had taken place, also took a small boat and floated down with the ice and mayhap there has been shooting going on at Ft. Yukon since then. The woman, before she married, was Rose Lent, the daugh- ter of 1. P. Lent of Lent, Ore., a small saw-mill town a few miles from Port- land. Her father is postmaster there and a member of the State Legislature. She is 24 years of age, pretty and attrac- tice. Paul Gidding, 50 years of age, son of an ex-governor of New Mexico, him- self a one time justice of the peace at Mt. Tabor, later a freight clerk of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Com- pany, and for years connected with mines and mining, came to the Yukon .three or four years ago. Less than two years ago he went out. He saw Miss Lent and told her about the icebergs and gold and she married him. They came at once to Dawson. He began to drink more than he should. Then Dr. Dutton arrived. He had known Mrs. Giddings when she was Miss Lent. While Mr. Glddings neglect- ed her, Dr. Dutton was very attentive. A friend of Dr. Dutton’s remained with Mr. Giddings all through one day and night when the river was partially free of ice and saw that Mr. Giddings was properly drunk. When Mr. Giddings sob- ered up next day he found that his wife and certain of his valuables were gone, He learned what had taken place and followed them. Sunday, November 7.—The ice jammed last night. The sight and sound of it ‘was hair-raising. It was like the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds. The shore ice and all fhat was on or near it was swept into chaos. A boat contain- ing five men, Alexander Black and Del Atkinson of San Francisco, Carl M. Coe and Harry Racer of Seattle and J. R. Arnew of Tilburg, Ont., was in the ice at the time at the upper end of Klondike City, just across the Klondike. Black and Atkinson, owners of the boat, reached shore with a rope. The bank at that place is very steep, a bluff running out to the water. It was a dark night, and they found great difficulty in | making their way. Atkinson climbed up the face of the cliff with a rope to fasten it about a rock. He had scarcely suc- ceeded when the ice began to move. The rock was pulled from its place and fell. Atkinson caught in the branches of a tree, ten feet below, and hung there for more than an hour until his cries had at- tracted the attention of the people on the shore, and he made them understand his predicament. They climbed the hill from the shore side, lowered 300 feet of rope and hauled him up the face of the cliff, and all this in the darkness of night. Black had not succeeded in reaching shore, and nearly all this time he was crawling on his hands and knees over the brokena ice near shore that every moment threstened to go out, falling through the thin, sewly made ice between the thick cakes, thot might or might not, so far as he could tell, have the deep water of the river beneath them. He also was finally rescued from the shore. . In the meant!me, the boat and the three mer in it moved down nearly a mile and stopped opposite the Gold Commissioner’'s office in Dawson. It was then 4 o'clock in the morning. At about 7 o'clock, al- though it was still dark, they were dis- covered from the shore, and a number of men tore the lumber from a pile in front of the sawmill and made a roadway with it, by which the men not only got ashore, but brought their two tons of goods with them. As the last sack of flour was taken out the ice broke away and carried the boat down the river another mile, leaving the plank roadway behind. A wide-open space of clear water was thus left in front of the lower end of town. From this, as the temperature dropped to 20 degrees below zero, a mist arose as thick and dark as the smoke of a great conflagration, shrouding com- pletely all the wreckage that lay beyond it. Ed Lord, barkeeper for Jimmy Keery, was arrested this morning charged with the robbery of Keery's saloon in which “Nigger” Jim lost $8000. A fellow named Curley Judd was ar- rested with Lord on the same charge. A miner named Pat Maloney, who has been drinking in Keery's saloon since the robbery, caused the arrest and claims to have absolute proofs. “Nig- ger” Jim got a tip last night and went to search for Lord this morning with a gun. He met Lord on Front street, put the gun at his head and called upon him te ‘“give up.” This brought the matter to a focus and Leord was arrested. All but $1000 of the stolen money has been recovered. - SUFFERING AND DEATH ON THE DAWSON TRAIL. Miners Object to a Newspa- per Faker Presenting Their Grievances at Ottawa. BY HAL HOFFMAN. DYEA, Alaska, Dec. 23.—(By steam- ship Al-Ki to Seattle, Dec. 28.)—The largest party that has yet come out from Dawson, numbering forty-eight persons, has arrived here within the last two days after a rough trip with the thermometer ranging from 20 to 67 below zero. Among the party was Mrs. J. J. McKay of Tacoma, Wash., the first woman to come ug or down the Yukon in the dead of an Arctic winter. She was accompanied by her husband, who, with a few others, claim to have made the trip from Dawson to salt water in twenty-five and a half days, the shortest on record, having left Dawson November 24. The complete party on the Al-Ki comprises: D. A. Campbell, C. M. Rosswo, Elia Rauche, James Hemberg, T. D. Berry, H. M. Westervelt, Ste- phenson, John Montag, Shade, W. W. Cleveland, B. Morrison, L. W. Fox, W. E. Knowles, S. G. Coffman, C. Dugan, B. Murnin, J. J. McKay, Mrs. McKay, C. F. Rhind, W. H. Price, M. R. Hirshberg, E. W. Pollock, L. T. Er- win, Gunslato, A. B. Cone, Dan Egan, W. A. Kersting, R. Anderson, A. Hed- strom, William Folker, A. R. Diamond, J. D. Barnes, F. H. Kane, H. Dobson, George Monroe, L. N. Miller, S. W. Foote, J. Dobssiski, J. Campbell, E. A. Sather, W. J. Christy, M. B. Crane, C. J. Christianson, E. L. Renaud, R. S. Smith, J. P. Jorgensen, L. Newman, T. H. Mallory, Con. O'Brien, Miss Lewis, F. F. Carpenter, Ed Barrington, Jim Keating, A. L. Cheney, W. W. Ev- ans, T. C. Hammond, L. S. Tennant, R. W. Ledgerwood and D. B. Glass. J. B. Barnes is from Snohomish, Wash. He is the messenger for The Call. Two-thirds of the entire party will return to Dawson next spring and summer. At the mouth of the Pelly River about two weeks ago $8632 was stolen from the cabin of J. K. Kiln of Juneau, who took cattle into Dawson in a partnership arrangement with Hibbard & Norton of Seattie, and was on his way out with the proceeds. The Canadian police sent out couriers, and every man on the trail who was not farther away than the mouth of the Big Salmon River was stopped and searched. No money or clew was found. G. W. Johnson of Juneau, who was in the cabin about the time the money was stolen from its hiding place, was the only man arrested. A Justice of the Peace happening to be at the mouth of the Pelly River, an examina- tion was held, and Johnson was re- leased, Kiln himself testifying that he had always known Johnson as an hon- est man. A young man, name unknown, travel- ing to Dawson with his stepfather, a Mr. Maguire of Chicago, had his feet and legs frozen to the knees at the mouth of the Stewart River. Maguire abandoned him on the trail, but was e —— e NEW TO-DAY. Hood’s Sarsaparilla Absolutely cures scrofula, Salt rheum, Dyspepsia,rheumatism, Catarrh andall diseases Originating in or promoted By impure blood. Itis The great nerve tonic, Stomach regulator and Strength builder, brought back by Klondikers who werqa snowed in for the winter with thejr supplies, and forced to leave money for the young fellow’s support. He is Iy helpless in a cabin and cannot recover, He attempted to shoot himself whep abandoned by his stepfather. A handsome young woman is lying helpless in a cabin with four men at Marsh Lake. Her story is that she is of respectable family in the State of ‘Washington and that she ran away from home with one of the men in the cabin. In coming across the lake one night a few weeks ago their ki was frozen in and the girl and & | er were held there the remainde: ! the long night, finally walking ashore on the ice in the morning. The exposure sent her to bed with inflammatory rheumatism and she has beer™¥ying there ever since. The three other men joined them for the winter. They have plenty of food. The girl suffers ter- ribly. Her name was not brought out by the returning Klondikers. No mail has reached Dawson since the first of October, and tons are gnow and ice bound for the winter at Lake Tagish and the mouth of the Littl Salmon River in care of the police. It is improbable that it will get to Daw- son. before the ice breaks up next May or June. Owing to unreliable and exagger- atetd reports published in sensational newspapers it is difficult to get miners to say what amount of gold they bring out, and a conservative estimate of the amount brought by the last large party will not exceed $50,000 in-gust -and certified checks. The commission selected by the min- ers of the Klondike, consisting af Dr. Wells of the Canadian Police Depart- ment, Mr. Laundryman and a renres sentative of an American newspaps (E. J. Livernash of the New Yo Journal and San Francisco Examiner), are now on their way from Dawson go- ing to Ottawa, with the protest of the miners against the Canadian law levy- ing a tax of 20 per cent on the output of large mining claims and 10 per cent on small claims, and also agalnst other obnoxious features of the m! laws, representing that they are m -great hardship on the miners under the gen- eral conditions of the region and ask- ing for their repeal. There was widespread objection in Dawson to the appointment of a “news- paper faker” to represent Canadians before their own Parliament, but the appointment of Livernash had been made by a committee of ten, to whom the matter had been left before the miners in general could successfully re- monstrate and after it was too late to rescind the action. All the outcoming Klondikers, almost without exception, characterize the appointment as ill ad- vised and very unpopular, and they say it will result in more harm than good to the purpose of the commis- sion. A large number of miners re- fused to subscribe a dollar to the ex- { pense fund unless Livernash was put off the commission. DANCEHOUSES AND ALL-NIGHT SALOONS BARRED AT DAWSON SEATTLE, Dec. 28.—The robbery of “Nigger Jim,” the robbery on the trail, the recent story that whisky and billiard balls were brought up the river by the last small steamer in- stcad of provisions, have been recog- nized by the police as giving Dawson, with its wide-open dancehouses, a name not likely to promote the good reputation of its camp, and an edict has been promul- gated, it is said by parties who have come over the trail since the large party arrived at Dyea, by the police that the dance houses and all-night business of saloons must close. This will make of Dawson the most unique mining camp in the world. It is con- sidered that this will not injure the camp, for the reason that as there is plenty of gold there will also be plenty of men to follow. HAL HOFFMAN. To Cure a Cold in One Day Take Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets. All iruggists refund the money if it fails to cure. 25c. The genuine has L. B. Q. on each tablet. —_—— Horses Perish in a Fire. LAKEPORT, Dec. 28—Fire in Burns Valley, Lake County, on Christ- mas destroyed a large barn containing eleven valuable horses, twenty-one tons of hay, two headers and header wagons and a quantity of minor ma- chinery and harness. A large granary, contining considerable grain was also burred. The origin of the fire is un- knowin. The loss is in the neighbor- hood ®f $5000. ——— e NEW TO-DAY. WHEN OTHERS FAIL CONSULT DOCTOR SWEANY. If you are suffering from the results of indiscretions of youth, or from excesses of any kind in majurer years; or if you have Shrunken Organs, Lame Back, Va- ricocele, Rupture _ exhaustive drains, etc., you should w#&ie no time, but con- sult this Great talist; he speedily and permanently elires all diseases of Menand Women. Call on or write him to- day. He can cure you. Valuable Book sent Free. Address F. L. SWEANY, M.D., 737 Market St., San Francisco, Cal. DO YOU WANT TO BUILD? ’ Call on the Fidelity, Empire, Me- chanics’ or California Mutual Build- ing and Loan Association for Loans RY FAVORABLE TERMS, WILLIAM E. LUTZ, Secrefary.. BRUSHE brewers, bookbinders, candy-makers, canners, dyers, flourmills, foundries, laundries, paper- hangers, prints painters, shoe factories, stablemen, tar-roofers, tanners, tailors, ete. BUCHANAN BROS., Brush Manufacturers,809 S8acramentoSt. Weak Men and Women HOULD USE DAMIANA BITTERS, THE great Mexican Remedy; gives heaith aud to the organs. ON ROR BARBERS, BAKA ers, bootblacks, bath- houses, billiard-tables,