Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-08-08
ROBE AZ ne fiooNAH CHIEFS.



- the Patience.
Nearly everybody IN and ont 81 Alaska
has heard cf Dick Willoughhy and lis
Silent City, says juneau Alaska) Iet-
ter to the Chicago Record. have
vague recollection Of q photo that
gives dim outlines Of castles and other
shadowy architecture city without
any beginning or ending, but with faint
suggestions of splendor that recall the
glories Of the Arabian Nights. " Dick
Willoughby says he took the photograph,
and would be glad to believe it, but
the story that goes with the picture il
even more elastic, vague and shadowy
than the picture itself. The only tangi
Bile thing relating to the Silent City is
Dick Willoughby himself.
The shelves, crannies and corners in
his shack are filed with the accumula-
ton of third Of century of rowing,
from the Mackenzie river to Bering
sea- He is prospector above everything
else. and consequently ores predominant
gold bearing quartz and many speci-
mems of unidentified minerals-but he
has also a rare collection of Indian Gu
rios. He has sealskin Of rare species,
which is said TO have been owned by the
chiefs of tribe of Hoonah Indians for
100 years In 1879 Mr.. Willoughby
made an expedition to the copper is
lands, where the Indians come down
from the interior to take sea otter. A
son of the chief was i'll with consump-
ton, aud it came III Mr.. Willoughby's
way to give him some medicine which
may have prolonged his life for awhile.
At all events, it won him the friendship
of the tribe. The young man died, how
ever, before the spring came During
the funeral rites Mr.. Willoughby no
ticed that the body was wrapped III a
fur robe of singular markings, and be-
fore the cremation of the body, accord
ing to the custom of these Indians q
squaw took the skin and, folding it
carefully, laid it away. 1t had two large
oval spots of reddish brown color, one
On each side, ON "a white field. Willough-
by calls it the skin of the extinct sea
COW Of northern waters, but it is more
probably the pelt of rare Or extinct
variety of hair seal. The nearest APP
proach to it i'll Alaska is said to be the
harp seal of the western and northern
coast, which has black markings of cres-
cent shape Oh its sides. Willoughby APP
preached the old chief with an offer to
buy it.
Il cannot sell that" answered the
Indian. Every Hoonah chief as far
back as we know-my father, and his
father, and his grandfather - was
wrapped in that robe when he died And
so, likewise, was my son, and SO will
be when die, and then-well, don't
know" So Willoughby relinquished
the idea and thought no more about it.
At that time the Sitka Indians had
arrogated to themselves the rights of
middlemen in all negotiations between
the interior tribes and the white men.
They had been able to maintain this po-
sition for many years by threats and
misrepresentation. When spring came,
the old chief had experienced good luck
in taking furs. and he was very DESTROYS
of visiting and trading with white men
at Sitka.
$50 with me, said Willoughby.
But the Sitka Indians will kill us "
''Not if you so with me- My father
has big war vessel i'll harbor there
and the Sitkas will not dare to harm
you"
Before. the Indians started on their
return trip the chief said to Willongh-
by:
ST am the last of my line. When /
die, if you want it, will have the sea
COW skin brought to yen.
| Two years later, when Willoughby
had trading post at Port Frederick,
! four Indian women came and tarried
around, as klootches do, waiting to be
addressed. They had to wait long
time, as the trader was busy, but after
a while he noticed that they We're the
squaws Of the Hoonah chief They IN
rolled bundle. which proved to be tho
funeral robe of TIE Hoonahs The old
chief was dead, and his squaws had pad
died q canoe through so miles Of open,
perilous sea to carry out his last wish.