IT HOLDS NO LURE
FOR PROSPECTOR
There is one place in Alaska that'
holds no lure for the prospector, the
fox farmer or the agriculturist. It is
Chirikoff Island about eighty miles
south west of Kodiak, declares mail
advices from Kodiak.
L-onely in its solitude, stern and for
bidding, wrapped in eternal mists,
frowning and sullen. Chirikoff is the
island of ghosts. Surrounded by dan
gerous reefs and stormy seas, it is at
t>est an uninviting place and is seldom
visited unless stress of storm make a
landing there imperative.
Nature has made the place repulsive
and legend lias added to its terrors.
Natives passing give the place a wide
berth, and nothing short of dire ex
tremely would cause them to land
there. They prefer to take the most
desperate chances with storm and sea
rather than set foot on its inhospitable
shores, for, legand has peopled the;
island with ghosts, whose wailings and
meanings and the clanking of whose
chains strike terror to the stoutest
heart.
Those whom necessity have com
pelled to stop there tell harrowing
tales of the unseen inhabitants of that
desolate place, of the moans and cries J
which filled the air during the hours of
darkness, and drove them at the first
opportunity to seek other shelter. Fori
Chirikoff, according to the legends of
the natives, was the prison of the early
Russian inhabitants of Kodiak. To
this bleak and desolate island were
banished the offenders against the |
Russian law or the edicts of the officials j
in command of the Russian settlement.
Tales of horrible cruelties visited
upon these unfortunates are handed
down in the native legends; how the
offenders, loaded with chains, were
landed at Chirikoff and left to their
own resources.
There was no escape and the unfor
tunates, prey to horrible sufferings,
from hunger and exposure eked out an
existence until death relieved them of
their sufferings.
Many years have passed since the
iast of these unfortunates died but
their restless spirits still roam, accord
ing to the tales of the natives, this j
bleak and desolate island, filling the i
air with their lamentations and the;
clanking of their chains.
So vivid are these stories that even \
the white men shudder as they pass |
the unhallowed spot, and, lir<e the na-J
j
I
Mrs. Young, Flat
---- ;
Watches anil Diamonds
Strictlv at Outside Prices
J. IL. SALE, FLAT
tives, they pass it by without landing.
No lure of possible mineral wealth
induces the prospector to visit this
awesome place, it is shunned by all, and
so dark and sullen it lies untenated
except by the wild foul and its ghostly
inhabitants.—Anchorage Times.
SQUAW IAN FOUND
GUILTY OF SEDITION
H. It. Rasmussen, of Douglas.
Alaska, was arrested the other day for
beating his Indian wife, and after his
incarceration in jail he was charged
with sedition, according to the Douglas
Island News. He was tried before a
jurv in United States Commissioner
Henson's court.
There was no lack of evidence that
Rasmus is not in sympathy with Amer
ica in this war; that he objected to his
wife working for the Red Cross and in
dicted physical punishment on her for
so doing; that he had expressed him
self as expecting something of the kind
when John MacWilliams’ launch was
dynamited six weeks ago at Douglas
and said at the time that other such
things would happen. MacWilliams by
expressing loyal sentiments had made
himself objectionable to Rasmussen.
The jury did not require much time
in arriving at a verdict of guilty and
Commissioner Henson promptly sen
tenced Rasmussen to six months’ im
prisonment in tlie federal jail at Juneau
and to pay a fine of $200. In default of
payment of the fine, an additional three
months’ jail sentence will be Rasmus
sen's portion.
Rasmussen is a Dane and has been a
resident of Douglas for several years.
He was married to his native wife last
summer.
-♦
(Anchorage Times.)
Samuel Deschamps was arrested yes
terday afternoon charged with assault
ing John Klonos, known as “John the
Greek.” The accused is a woodchop
per and lives about two miles northeast
of Anchorage. The assault grew out of
a quarrel over the patriotic parade of
last Wednesday when the Home Guard,
of which John Klonos is a member,
formed a guard of honor to the GI An
chorage youths who had volunteered
their services to their country.
Deschamps is said to have made some
remark concerning the parade that was
resented by Klonos. It is charged that
Deschamps pulled Klonos from a dog
sled on which he was riding, and beat
and kicked him after knocking him to
the ground. .
After the assault Deschamps departed
for his cabin in the woods.
Deputy United States Marshal Harry
Kavanaugh later visited the cabin and
arrested Deschamps, charging him with
assault. His bail bond was placed at
$1,000 by United States Commissioner
Leopold Davis. Friends of Deschamps
raised this sum and he was released
from the jail last night.
—-♦—— —
Tub and steam baths at all hours.
Snyder House, Flat.
Mitchell Lumber Co.
I ALL KINDS
Rough LUMBER Dressed
Sluice-Box Lumber, Flooring, Shiplap, Liners, Etc.
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME
MERCHANTS* CAFE
FIRST AVE. I
GOOD MEALS
SHORT ORDERS
OPEN DAY AND NIGHT
ROBT. SOUTAR
J Prop
Let us voluntarily deny ourselves now that
\ the needs of our Allies may be supplied, lest
the ultimate demands of our enemies must of
necessity be satisfied by the unwilling saorb
fices of future generations.
Second St. IDITAROD MEAT CO« P*°nel5
VETERANS PASS AWAY
I
Philadelphia. May 1. Veterans of
the civil war are dy ihg at the rate of
100 daily, according to Otlando A.
1 Somers, commander-in-chief of the
Grand Army of the Ut-pubiic. Mr.
I Somers made this announcement dur
ing patriotic exercises in this city in
hohor of Abraham Lincoln and the de
fenders of the Union.
Mr. Somers said there were now liv
ing approximately 307,000 veterans, ac
cording to the pension office at Wash
ington, and he added that the country
would suffer a great loss after they had
all passed away, inasmuch as they had
been a commanding factor in keeping
patriotism alive in this country.
‘•We may have to send 10,000,000 men
! across the water before the war-crazed
maniac, of Kuropo will admit lie is
crushed and beaten, but in tlie end
there can be but oue outcome- our
armies will return victors, Mr. Somers
declared.
it,
Washington, April 33 Thirteen mil
lion pounds of kitchen refuse in ilie
United States every year is to he util
ized to win the war.
Plans being formulated by the gar
bage utilization division of the food ad
ministration provides for extraction of
glycerine, soaps, fats, grease and fer
tilizer from garbage. A survey of
methods in 780 cities is now under way.
The yearly garbage waste of an aver
age American family of four, according
to the food administration, can be con
verted into 3$ pounds of^nitroglycerine,
and fifty cakes of soap, as well as sup
plying other valuable by-products.
Fertilizers sufficient to produce three
bushels of wheat also can be taken
from the same family table.
Kate from 39 states show' last year’s
garbage valued at more than $11,000,
000.
_ _
ALL ABOARD! _
THE NEW GASOLINE BOAT
IVI.T. Crosby
Monday, June 3, 10 a.m.
For^pikeman, Holy Cross,
Marshall, Andreofsky,
and Ail Way Points
«
For Passenger and Freight Bates
ENQUIRE OF J. H. ROGERS, CITY DOCK, IDITAROD
According to a late issue of the
Alaska Bureau of Indian Education
journal, The Eskimo, there were ap
proximately 100,000 head of reindeer in
Alaska at the close of tlie fiscal year
ending June JO, 1917.
At that time there were about 73
herds in all parts of the Territory, of
which 33 are located in what is offi
cially known as the northwest district,
which extends from the southeastern
point of Seward peninsula to Point Bar
row, and includes St. Lawrence island.
The total number of deer located on
Seward peninsula and St. Law'renee j
sland was 30,347, while the number in
tiie entire northwest district was 50,379.
Of this number 30,930 were owned by
Eskimos.
The number of Eskimo deer owners
is placed at 1,074, out of a total approx
imate population of 5,000 natives.
-«
New Pay on Greenstone
(Ruby Record-Citizen.)
Billy Bowers, of Greenstone creek,
was a visitor in town this week. He
said he and his partner found a new
pavstreak on Greenstone last winter.
The new channel is about 200 feet
farther into the hill, on the right limit,
than the dredge was working last sum
mer. The new pay uncovered runs
better than $1 to the foot, and seems to
be better the farther into the hill he
got. The ground is about 20 feet deep
ana thawed. He expects to be work
ing a large crew this summer, and
thinks he has a homestake in sight.
- -♦
Clem LaBorde, Rote Murdock and
Henry Peel left town a few days ago
to fish in the Yukon river this season.
Nea tly-Prin ted
Stationery
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