FAR iiER KILLS INDIAN
Fanner Watches Three Days
to Kill—Jury Then
Frees
An Indian was killed on the Sis
ters Island Fox Farm, north of Pet
ersburg*. His name is said to be
Wihie Gray of Metlakatla.
The story is that this Indian had
camped on the Isl'V’d tor several
days, pitched bis tent on the beach,
that duiing the several following
days the fox farmer, from the near
by timber, kept watch on him. Dur
ing this time, the watchman did not
speak to the Indian, nor did lie
warn him to get off or make any
move to warn the old man.
Finally, it is alleged, the watch
man got three other farmers with
him and these fox farmers claim
that they saw Willie Gray walking
up the "beach to his tent carrying
a dead fox in his hand and also
carrying a rifle. The Watchman
ordered him to drop his gun, but
the watchman claims that Gray
jumped behind the tent, that he
leveled his rifle at the farmers, so
the watchman fired thru the tent
and killed the old Indian.
It seems to us from hearing the
accounts of this affair that this
killing IS DELIBERATE MURDER,
notwithstanding the coroner’s jury.
We will see what U. S. Attorney
Shoup will do.
In the first place , no poacher,
Indian or white man, would think
of pitching his tent on a fox island,
right on the beach in plain view of
passersby.
Secondly, no Indian would think
of hiding behind a tent for protec
tion from a bullet.
Third, if the Indian was a poacher,
why did the w-atchman wait around
several days, sneaking around in the
woods, out of sight, waiting, waiting
for a chance perhaps to kill.
Fourth. As a matter of law, no
man has a right to kill under cir
cumstances of this kind. The law
is even stronger than that. A law
officer has no right to kill an es
caping prisoner who is accused of
nothing greater than a misdemeanor.
It is getting so that citizens can
not even anchor their boats under
stress of w-eather or for water near
these fox islands.
The fox farmer leasing the Middle
Islands near Sitka drives Indians
away from the only anchorage near
that island and the place where they
are forced to seek shelter from the
w-eather. In olden times, Indians
habitually camped at this anchor
age as they journeyed to their
hunting grounds.
Wear FetersDurg, the fox farmer
threatened to shoot an Indian on the
beach, below the high tide mark,
where he was digging clams for
food.
Indians are not poaching. Fox
farmers would get along with them
very easily if they would merely
treat them as human beings. The
matter is in the hands of the far
mers themselves. If they do not
adopt the policy of being good
neighbors, the policy of retaliation
will undoubtedly be adopted by the
older Natives who have not forgot
ten the law under which they were
raised—“An eye for an eye, and a
tooth for a tooth.”
We urge upon the fox farmers
that they adopt a different method
of getting friends than that of
shooting people who are forced to
anchor near them.
CUTTING OUT SEINES
F. C. Barnes Company states that
they will not use any seine caught
salmon next season except what they
have to take, either from natives
who are buying boats from them, or
in the event their traps do not
work.
Last year the Burnett Inlet Can
nery continued to fish with their
traps after they had finished with
their own pack. This put their traps
in direct competition with the resi
dent fishermen.
The result has been that the resi
dent fishermen have had their only
source of income cut off in order
that the foreigners who come with
the geese in the spring and depart
with the geese in the fall might
make some more money to spend
in Seattle and Chicago.
Traps are increasing in all direc
tions. These traps have to be built
long before the salmon season be
cause posession of the trap site is
ten points of the law. During this
pre-salmon period, these traps catch
hundreds and thousands of king sal
mon. And thus the trollers are de
prived of a legitimate income.
Some day we hope to see the
white fishermen, both seiners and
trollers, wake up to the fact that
the “foreign and migratory birds”
are robbing1 them, their wiv^s and
their children. When they do, we
will say that at last they have ap
proximated the intelligence of the
“illiterates.”
HOOVER AROUSED
BY UNTERMYER’S
“TRUST” CHARGE
WASHINGTON, D. C., Mar. 21.—
Secretary of Commerce Hoover to
day issued a sharp reply to Samuel
Untermyer, who in a letter to Sen
ator Capper charged that the Amer
ican public was trust-ridden because
of Mr. Hoover’s convenient blindness
and inaction with respect to the
anti-trust laws.
Sejarrtary Hoover, writing to Sen
ator Capper, said that Mr. Unter
myer “is either engaged in slander
or has lost his memory or knows
nothing of the functions of the De
partment of Commerce, or is en
deavoring to oppose efforts to re
strain foreign price combinations
against the American people.”
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