The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-05-11
THE HENRIETTA CASE,
The United States Government
Orders Release of Sealer.
OlNEY'S SURPRISING ACTION.
Result May Have . Bearing on the
Celebrated Coquitlam Case.
Odd Eellows Grand Lodge Session
Change Made In Time Of MeotinR-A
oLNEY's SURPRISING ACTION.
Change Made in Time Of Meeting-A
1rackwslker Killed Near Selah
While Asleep On . Tricycle..

PoRr TOWNSEND. May l0.-rSpeclal. AT
torney General Olney has instructed Dis
trict Attorney Johnson, of Sitka, Alaska,
to abandon the prosecution of the British
schooner Henrietta and deliver her up
to the British authorities. The Hen
rietta was charged with receiving cargo,
consisting OF 49s seal skins, from other
vessels in Tonki bay, Afognak island,
Alaska. last summer without first having
reported to the customs authorities as re-
quired by law. To comply with attorney
generals order it will be necessary
to dismiss the proceedings against the
vessel now pending in the district court of
Alaska. The fact that the Brit
ish steamer Coouitlam, of Vic.
toria, which was engaged as
tender for the British sealing feet and
ing the law by taking aboard over 5000
sealskins. stands charged in the same
manner as the Henrietta would seem to
indicate that the government was
receding from its former position.
The proof against the Henrietta is
as conclusive as against the Co
quitlam. District Attorney Johnson,
who is now in Sitka, is unable to offer
solution of the orders received from Wash
ington City. Only short time previous
the attorneys for the Henrietta agreed by
stipulation to use the Coquitlam action
as test case. and the Hen
rietta should abide by the result.
Now the government orders all pro-
ceedlngs against ono vessel dismissed
without an explanation. Some of the at
torneys and government officials in Alaska
advance the opinion that the present ad-
ministration will in the future adopt a
less vigorous policy pertaining to foreign
sealing vessels in Alaskan waters and Ber-
ing sea than heretofore.
The attorney generals orders have not
been compiled with as yet. for the reason
that no British representative has gone to
Sitka to claim the vessel. In the mean
time a new complication has arisen
in the case. The Henrietta has
been libeled for debt by pri-
vate parties and were District Attorney
Johnson ever so " illing to carry out his
orders he could not deliver the vessel
to the British government until the
claims are adjudicated. The Henrietta,
after receiving the cargo of seal
skins in Alaskan waters and subsequently
transferring the cargo to another vessel
en- route to Victoria in the open sea, pro.
ceeded to Berihg sea. There she was in
tercepted and seized by the American
revenue cutters and sent to Sitka for trial.
The steamer Alki arrived down from
Alaska last night bringing news that the
district court would convene in Juneau on
May %. The government has sent funds to
Alaska to carry on the official business.
The most important case for trial is that
of Jack Dalton, deputy marshal, charged
with the murder of Dan McInnes last fall.
An Indian named Tom will also be tried
for murder committed at Chilcat on July
4, 1892. About thirty-fve persons will an
swer the charge of selling liquor to Indi-
ans without United States license. These
latter cases will be prosecuted under the
Revised Statutes instead of the Oregon
law, as heretofore.