The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-22

How Lying Ton Bnrretus" Yarn About
the Mohienu's Loss Came to ne Told.

SNN W. NV ~
the Mohienu's Loss Came to Re Told.
Very many persons may remember the story
that was telegrnphcd ana cabled all over the
world in the summer Of 1905 of the sinking OF
the United states revenue cutter Mohican by
the British seal pirate Belle OF tho Pacific,
somewhere in that indefinite part OF the north
Pacific Ocean known to all Alaskans rs " the
westward" Not so many probably will re-
member that the story was a fake, because IL Is
the lnmcntable history of such things that the
truth never completely ovcrtnRcs the lie. 1t
was n lie out of whole cloth, as was demon
stratcd when the Mohican turned up nil right
that fail at the end OF the patrol season. but tho
manner of its publication has not been told.
This lie began to have its being years ago
when the steamers frat began to take tourists
from down below ,''as Alaskdns call the States,
up through the gorgeous scenery of the north
Pacific coast line for n peep at the northern
Territory. AS a usual thing the tourists spend
eight or ten hours ashore Mt Juneau and as
much more In Sitka. Sometimes they make n
dash up to Muir glacier. Altogether they see a
lot of the country in n panoramic sort of way,
and they hear a great deal moro about it. II Is
one of the lands where the blindest bluffs hold
good. and the widest tales are true. So when
they get back to the States again the tourists
begin to unfold TO their friends and their
friends friends and to their acquaintance and
to any body who will listen, particularly to over
cre6ulous newspaper men. the widest tales that
human ingenuity can devise.
For a long time tho Alaskans did their best to
chase down these lies. but they failed. The
liars had nll the advantages of telcEraphs and
daily mails and the widespread publicity
given by the too credulous newspaper men.
Then the Alaskans gave up the direct attack
and took up the gentle art of lying themselves.
They had SO much time to practice when there
was nothing else to interfere that every two
weeks when the mail boat zane in n fine new
crop OF marvellous stories had been care
fully harvested for dissemination ip the
the medium through which these s!ories
oregon. Washington. and California. There
men rapidly acquired a large reputa-
ton with the readers OF thrilling Newspaper ac-
counts OF brave newspaper deeds. The people
on the Pacific coast seem to be singularly open
on after a while to the fact that the AlasLans
were jollyinE them. Then resentment took the
coast man With i a horse rake who Would " belieVo
an Alaska steamship mans story IL the narrator
was literally encaseG In Bibles.
1t developed through the somewhat general
competition that as n conipounder of able tales
Tom Barrett was easily at tho head. He won
springing from comparative obscurity in the
ranks of liars by one successful coup. Barrett
westward. HI rolled into Sitka one day with
me most astonishing stories of the auriferou.
TICueS OF NluuletOn lsl2nQ. q llttle CHUNK OF
rock and sand that had been heaved up above
the water by some submarine volcanic Eruption
far out In the middle of the north Pacific Ocean.
All Alaska that could 60 started for Middleton
Island on the strength of Barrett's yarns, and
all Alaska that couldn't go Rrub-staked some
body who could. When the excitement was
over, and those who went to Middleton Island
had got back and those who didn't 60 were out
their grub stakes. tire man who had started tho
rush spontaneously became known to all Alaska
as Lying Tom Barrett"
Lying Tom Barrett" told the yarn about the
Mohican TO the newspaper man in Port Town
send. who autographed a column of It to his
paper in Seattle and started II around the world.
the way put up the Job with the men
to spring n yarn that should make a sensation
in the States. The steamship men knew they
couldn't make II 60 Themselves. but they agreed
to back Barrett up in whatever he said and to
give him a good send-off II there was effort at
veri1catton. So when the steamer put in at
Port Townsend Barrett got himself interviewed,
and the next day the world was reading
Capt. Thomas Barrett's' remarkable story
of the loss of the Mohican. When the
yarn got back to Juneau and Sitka
there were some !Alaskans who laughed
nightly at the hoax. but others, who knew the
1t to the relations and friends of the cutters
mon and on. the whole B~arrett's story did not
meet with the approval even of the liars. That
was carrying the thing too far. Harmless stories
about islands of gold or i'm possible customs OF
unheard-o of people were well enough. but this
lie turned the tide in favor of truthfulness. and
now Alaskans are more in their
stories about the Territory. But Barrett will
never be anybody but Living Tom" to them.