MIDIS CREEK SWINDLE OUTDONE
Df TRICK TURNED ON THE YUKON
The incomprehensible thing aboul
the Midas creek swindle, inaugu
rated at Nome perhaps a year ago,
is that the perpetrators of the fraud
were able to keep their dupes sc
long in ignorance of the true state
of affairs. Passengers from St. Mi
chael on the Susie last Monday
relate that even up to the present
time some of the victims cherish a
lingering hope that all will yet be
well. Duncan and Griggs, the
perpetrators of the fraud, are gone,
officers of the law know not where.
How much money they succeeded
in wheedling from confiding indi
viduals will never be known, but it
exceeds $50,000.
Cold-blooded treachery was their
distinguisuing point. Friends who
had known and trusted them long
were fleeced and made innocent co
partners in their villainy.
Meanwhile a trick has been turned
on the upper reaches of the Ameri
can Yukou that for dramatic inter
est, boldness in conception, audacity
and success in execution will prob
ably remain without a parallel not
in the north alone, but in the his
tory of mining frauds on the entire
American continent.
Scarcely more than the bar st
outlines have got into the public
prints, and with such consummate
skill were the plans laid and the
details executed that to this day
the losers are at sea as to the truth
of conflicting reports from the
ground chosen as the lure.
George Torrance, of California, is
the proraotor, and the Klondike
Estates Corporation, Limited, of
London, England, is the concern
he succeeded in interesting in what
he represented as fabulously rich
placers.
The placers lie on Seventymile
creek, on the left limit of the Yu
kon, a distance below Kagle.
The amount of money so lar
yielded up by the company is up
ward of $425,000.
The ground carries gold, but in
such small quantities no one would
do a year's representation work for
a clear title to the whole creek.
In this instance there is nothing
to show that the company tailed to
exercise reasonable prudence Tor
ranee's antecedents were inquired
into and found satisfactory. The
ground was originally experted by
W. M Fiuhugh. whose integrity
yet remains untarnished
Later, as a further precaution,
h apart l toff mao waa sent to Sev
entyastle.and found that the ground
had been suited and waa utterly
worthies*, ly patient riurt he
j learned the particulars of the whole
| fraud, which had been so cunningl)
devised that Expert Fitzhugh was
I thoroughly dec.ived. He secured
affidavits to this effect from numer
j ous people familiar with and impli
, cated in the saltiHg; and never sus
j pected for a moment that the arraj
of facts covered by his voluminous
report would ever come into ques
tion.
Now comes the remarkable part
of this remarkable story.
The directors of the Klondike
Estates Corporation, Limited, met
in London in February of the pres
ent year.
Fitzhugh was there.
Hoffman was there.
Torrance was there!
And it is sate to say a good deal
of modern hell was raised by the
experts and capitalists congregated
there, of the latter of whom Tor
rance is now one.
Hoffman reported the situation
as it was actually found by him to
exist on Seventymile, and backed
up his account by documentary
evidence and the affidavits afore
I said.
Fitzhugh acknowledged that he
had not used due caution and had
I been imposed upon.
Torrance declared them both
I liars and traitors to the men who
! had employed them. He supported
his denunciation by evidence that
no body of sane men could wholly
discredit. For each affidavit Hoff
man produced Torrance had five or
six.
Poor Fitzhugh caught it then !
No matter where truth and false
! hood rested between Hoffman and
Torrance, he was ignominy's own.
Torrance’s story was strengthened
hv the appearance of one Hale—a
man who would seem to be trust
worthy could ever man be called
trustworthy again who proposed
at his own expense to expert the
Seventytnile proposition a third
time for a stated interest io the
property, and reimburse the com
pany for all past outlay regardless
of the expert's report. What this
play means it is unprofitable to
guess. The Hale proposal was re
jected.
Threatened with actions at law
by innocent stockholders, the per
piescd directors know not who to
believe
To the best of its ability the
company will continue to ieveeti
gate
So rests this true story aa far as
the plot has developed Being real,
the balance must he enacted be tore
tl is record,*
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SOLE AGENTS
Biblical Criticism.
Canon Cheyue. the distinguished
author of the “Encyclopedia Bib
lica,” addressing the English
churchmen’s union at Westminster
on the “Discovery of New Facts
and Justification of a More Search
ing Biblical Criticism,” contended
for a free and untrammelcd criti
cism iu the cause of progress.
Canon Cheyne held that the na
tional church was not merely a
hospital for the morally sick, but a
union of men devoted to the high
est ideals and to historic truth. He
said it could be shown easily that
some of the narratives in the Old
Testament were colored by the Ori
emai mytuomgy. i ne earner cnap
ters of Genesis, containing the cos
mogony and the deluge and such
stories as Jonah and the big fish
were semi-mythical and Oriental in
origin, showing the influence of
Babylon. Certain elements in the
Bible were borrowed from a culture
older and richer than the Jewish.
“I have no intention of giving
anv shock,” said Canon Cheyne, in
touching upon the virgin birth of
the Redeemer.” But he claimed
that new facts brought to light
showed that the Jewish narrator
had derived it from a non-Jewish
source end that the use of the word
“virgin” arose out of a misunder
standing of the meaning of the
original word, which referred to the
divine generation of certain favoeed
persona. Aa a historian he conkt
not refvae to recognise the poaai
bditv of thia origin of the story
After showing how many names
of people and places in the UU
Teal ament were wrong, he mid
there were two grent works remain
ing to be done. One was to find
out what meanings the last editors
of the Old Testament put upon the
books when they had suffered much
corruption. The other was to
complete an improved textual crit
icism.
White .River Strike.
In a business letter from United
States Commissioner E. R. Brady,
dated Wickersham, Aug. 24. he
says: “I am pleased to say things
look good to me here. . . A new
find of placer has been made on
the head of the White river; $2.50
per pan in places.”
Portland Oregonian: A Seattle
firm has received an order from
Rampart. Alaska, for a mowing
machine and a horse hayrake. This
is said to be the first order of the
kind that has ever come from West
ern Alaska, and appears to offer
proof that the land of the midnight
sun has other resources than gold
and fish. The order for the ma
chine came from a pack-train op
erator who has spent seven years
in the country and evideutly knows
what it is capable of. Western
Alaska is too close to the Artie
circle for very long sumasers, but
the days are so long and warm that
cereals and grasses arc said to ma
ture much quicker than in latitudes
further south.
There has just been turned out at
the Philadelphia mint >3.000 gold
one dollar pieces. Tl ey ate the
souvenirs of the Lewis and Clurhe
M a posit ton at Port land These are
the llr*t coins which have had a
head .>n both sides, that of Uen
being on one side aad Clarke on
the other