ROSS WINS HUGE SUM
IN SETTLEMENT
Our only excuse for printing the
following- article, taken from a
Portland, Oregon, paper lay in the
fact that right and justice has at
last triumphed, and we take it that
all'good citizens will rejoice in the
same measure that we do. The
parties in the drama have been
among the most prominent on the
Pacific Coast. W. M. Ladd is known
wherever banks are known, as one
of the powerful bankers of the west
The party who was wronged, J.
Thorburn Ross, is the husband of
Dr. Lindsley’s daughter. Dr. Lind
sley is the father of missionary ef
forts in Southeastern Alaska. He it
was that raised the money and sent
the first Protestant missionary to
these parts, when he sent Mrs. A. R.
McFarland to establish a mission
and a girls school at Wrangell. It
is often said that Dr- Sheldon Jack
son is the father of Alaska missions,
but due credit is gradually being
given to Dr- Lindsley to whom be
longs the honor of being the first.
There is another hidden moral in
this drama, and that is when Money
determines to wreck a person’s life
or to crush opposition or to ac
complish any given purpose Money
usually has its way. Readers will
draw their own conclusions as to
who was right in the controversy,
considering the fact that the Ladd
interests are paying to Mr. Ross the
sum of $150,000.
J- Thorburn Ross, head of the old
Title Guarantee & Trust company,
which went down—the most spec
tacular bank crash Portland has ever
seen—in the panic of 1907, today
was awarded $125,000 by the court
and all charges made against him
by adverse parties to the receiver
ship during the last 17 years, were
withdrawn.
He is to receive $25,000 more by
terms of another agreement, attor
neys in the case said.
The situation was this:
The “adverse parties” claimed that
Ross owed the receiver large sums
and made all sorts of charges
against him concerning them.
Claim Is Justified
Ross claimed that the receiver
owed him a big amount and backed
his claim with counter charges.
The agreement, which was au
thorized by Federal Judge Wolver
ton this morning, ended the contro
versy thus:
Ross gets the money.
The charges against him were re
tracted in toto.
Under the terms of the agreement,
R. S. Howard, receiver, who is a
vice president of Ladd & Tilton
bank, is to buy all of Ross’ stock
in the company.
The stock is eventually to be
turned over to the Ladd Estate com
pany, according to J. C. Conley, one
of the attorneys in the case.
Part of the money to be paid Ross
represented trust funds he had on
deposit when the institution failed
The “adverse parties” who agreed
to the settlement were W. M. Ladd,
Ladd & Tilton, Ladd & Tilton Bank
ers, Ladd & Tilton bank, Ladd Es
tate company and Frederick H.
Strong.
Affairs of the Title Guarantee &
Trust company have been in the
hands of a receiver for seventeen
years.
According to W. C. Bristol, at
torney for the receiver, this con
stitutes a record for long receiver
ship.
“It has also the amazing record
of not only paying creditors, but
has potential assets which the court
records show to be in the neighbor
hood of $3,750,000,” Bristol declared.
Ross said that he thought this
figure might be somewhat high.
“But I have not been allowed to
see the books for seventeen years.”
he added.
Conley said that the company
would not only pay all obligations
before it was w’ound up, but would
actually return a “substantial divi
dend” to stockholders.
All depositors were paid in full
more than ten years ago, according
to Bristol.
He was an attorney of large prac
tice in addition to his position as
president of the bank. He had serv
ed two terms in the state legisla
ture and managed a Republican cam
paign. He was president and for a
long time a director of the Y- M. C.
A. and an elder in First Presbyterian
church.
“RACIAL HATRED
AND ANIMOSITY”
At the Hoonah, Alaska, conven
tion, of the Alaska Native Brother
hood, the Rev. Mr. Bush of Ketchi
kan said: “If my friends Judge
Morrissey of the Chronicle and John
Troy of the Empire had come to
this convention and saw the work
ing of your minds and learned your
ideals, they would not have any fur
ther reason for stirring up race
hatred and animosity.”
In commending on this statement,
the Juneau Empire said. “One does
not have to go to an Alaska Native
Brotherhood Convention to under
stand the menace to good govern
ment, the threat to racial good feel
ing, the gross injustice to the In
dians, involved in the movement to
control Alaska government through
using the Indian votes en bloc. About
1,000 Indians voted in the recent
election. They voted as they were
told to vote. They voted, not as in
dividual units, but as organized In
dians and voted en masse for what
they were told would be the ad
vantage of the Indians.”
This answer of John Troy to Mr.
Bush indicates the very thing the
distinguished clergyman was deplor
ing. The race hatred and animosity
of John Troy is as poison to the
body politic. Worse than that, this
newspaper man who knows nothing
of the facts about which he writes
constantly tells the public falsehoods.
That is why it would indeed be a
good thing if both he and Judge
Morrissey would educate themselves
on the subject by going among the
natives as they meet in convention
to grapple with the problems of life.
Would any fair-minded man say
to the invitation of Mr. Bush, “No.
I do not need to go there and see
for myself just what these people
are doing; what they are thinking;
what plant they have?”
The trouble with both Troy and
Morrissey is that neither man dares
to learn the truth because their hold
on their political following depends
on stirring up race hatred and ani
mosity. Neither man would have a
single issue left if he were to learn
the truth.
Each man would learn:
First—that the Indians are work
ing for the good of all residents of
Alaska, both white, black and red,
and they are not working for special
benefits for Indians alone.
Second—that the more than two
dozen leaders of the Natives are in
telligent, educated, determined men
of strong character and not creatures
who can be pulled this way and that
by any person, and that William L.
Paul is not in any sense of the
word their boss
Third—that the entire body of Na
tives are not in any sense of the
word “ignorant,” but that they have
well developed powers of thought
and speech, being able to deliver
forciful and logical speeches. The
trouble with Troy is this, because
he cannot understand their language
he concludes that they must be ig
norant, a dangerous deduction and
unwarranted by a person really ed
ucated.
Fourth—that the Brotherhood is a
Christian organization seeking the
elevation of the Indian race by and
through the church of God, through
the public schools and in business.
Fifth—that the entrance of the
Brotherhood into politics is but a
passing phase of their work and en
tirely due to the corrupt politicians
who consort with and are supported
by and whose spokesman is John
Troy of the Juneau Empire and his
“me too” Judge Morrissey of the
Ketchikan Chronicle. They will learn
that when ever public men and
newspapers put morals first in poli
tics that the Brotherhood will be
glad to step out of politics.