“WHO IS TOM MARQUAM"
By Emery Valentine, Now Supporting Him
Excerpt from an affidavit
made and filed with the De
partment of Justice at Wash
ington, when Tom Marquam
was the candidate of Republi
can National Committeeman,
Jack McBride, for Judge of
the Fourth Division in Alaska,
in 1921.
United States of America,
Territory of Alaska - ss.
EMERY VALENTINE, be
ing duly sworn, deposes and
says:
I am a resident of Juneau,
Alaska, and have been such
since 1886, and during that
period have been engaged prin
cipally in the mercantile bus
iness, and am now one of the
principal property owners of
this city. I have at all times
taken an active part in the
various civic endeavors to ad
vance the welfare of the city
of Juneau and the Territory
of Alaska, and have been May
or of the City for eleven terms.
I am very well acquainted
with Thomas Marquam, now of
Fairbanks, Alaska. He came to
Juneau some time during the
Klondike rush, probably in the
latter part of 1897, or the first
part of 1898. He came here
in some capacity connected with
the office of Collector of Cus
toms. At that time-—though
the importation of liquor into
the Territory was prohibited by
law—there were some eighteen
or twenty saloons operating in
Juneau and about the same
number at Skagway and Dyea.
These were all dealing in liquor
unlawfully imported, and it
was a fact, which finally be
came well established, that any
body could import liquor who
would pay to the customs of
ficers a stipulated price per
gallon or per case. Thomas
Marquam was at that time one
of the active deputies in the
customs office, and he was an
parently principally engaged in
discovering and seizing liquor
which had been imported with
out payment of this tribute to
the officers.
I remember on one occasion
he raided a saloon situated on
Front Street in the city of
Juneau and called the “Comet.”
He secured a large quantity of
intoxicants, of which a good
share was champagne. That
same evening, the owner of the
“Comet,” E. H. Caseboldt, dis
covered and proved to my satis
faction that this same cham
pagne taken by. Marquam from
the “Comet,” was being sold
and delivered by Marquam and
his associates to the bawdy
houses of the city of Juneau.
Caseboldt informed me that he
had attempted to slip in the
liquor without settling with the
customs officers. Marquam and
his associates also brought up
from Portland a man by the
name of Kendall, whom they
established in the saloon bus
iness in the interests of this
customs house ring in what was
known as “The Opera House,”
and there Kendall disposed at
wholesale and retail of liquor
which various persons had at
tempted to smuggle into the
Territory without paying tri
bute to the Customs house of
ficers.
After Marquam left the cus
toms service he continued to
stay around Juneau for a num
ber of years and practiced law
in a desultory manner. His
companions were chiefly men
and women of the underworld
He was generally regarded as
a man devoid of principle; I
think I can well say that he
was one of the most disreput
able characters that we had in
Tuneau during his time here.
During the latter days of his
stay here he lived with. . . who
plied her business as such over
what was then known as “The
Horse Shoe” saloon. They left
Juneau together for the In
terior of the Territory. While
Marquam lived here in Juneau
he was generally regarded as
an all around crook and pimp.
(Signed) Emery Valentine
Subscribed and sworn to be
fore me this 11th day of Jan
uary, 1921.
(Signed) John B. Marshall,
Notary Public for Alaska.
a
H
The above is the substance
of the leading editorial against
Sutherland by Edward Morris
sey when referring to the rot
ten conditions in Ketchikan.
In the editorial, Morrissey
tries to prove Sutherland wrong
by arguing that “Ketchikan is
the best town in the world for
its size. It has more than 500
beautiful children in its
schools.”
The fact is that in going to
the very school furnished by
the great town of Ketchikan,
more than one half of the chil
dren have to pass within 100
yards of the houses of prosti
tution, assignation, vice and
brothels against which Dan
Sutherland protests.
We repeat it, that Edward
G. Morrissey, defender of the
“fair name of Ketchikan.”
knows that these whore houses
can be seen from the windows
of the “finest school in Alaska.”
Dan Sutherland is man
enough to fight against this
condition. Any decent man,
especially one having a family
of his own. would do the sam'v
Dan filed his charges AFTER
others of Ketchikan had done
likewise without success. This
was in 1925.
OUR CHALLENGE
If Sutherland hns done such
a great wrong and deserves to