The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-07
DISORDER At SKAGUAY.
Authorities Contemplate a Raid
on the Place.
TENDERFEET ARE BEING FLEECED.

Miners Are Growing Desperate and Becon-
Ing Suspicious of One Another-LawIess
Characters Are Much in Evidence and
Dissentions and Discords Are Frequent
DARK Accounts of the Condition of Az
fairs at skaguay-Judge Lynch to Rule.
Seattle. Wash. Sept. THE authori-
ties Of Alaska have awakened to the
serious nature of the situation at the
White pass They see in the continu-
ance of the camp at Skaguay, as now
constituted, possibilities for crime and
various other evils Of great magnitude.
Steps have been taken to break up the
camp by dispensing the lawless element
that has gathered there from every
state in the Union.
Colonel +. S. Chadbourne, state har-
Dor commissioner of California, who
was a passenger on the steamship
Queen, brought down advices to the
above effect. Colonel Chadbourne says
Collector Ives and a force Of deputy
United States marshals had determined
TO raid the town of Skaguay and clean
out the whisky smugglers and saloon
men and rid the camp of the disorderly
element. Heretofore the authorities
have been utterly unable to cope with
the disorderiy people in the camp. 1t
was the refuge Of the worst class of
criminals, confidence men and thugs
on the coast. These. with the whisky
men, had combined to block the trail,
so as to keep the tenderfeet there all
winter and fleece them as long as there
Uo Of In, h.
Discords Among the Miners.
Serious as is the situation az Skaguay
and White pass as portrayed b. let
ters and by the men returned from the
camp disconsolate and appalling as Is
the condition of the trail over the
mountain barrier between the 5000 gold
hunters and the paradise on the other
side. the accounts published from time
to time seem to have but family pOr-
trayed the actual state Of affairs. Made
desperate by their failure 10 get over
the trail and by the terrible hardships
that they have been compelled TO en-
dure in the hopeless struggle against
odds Of the past week, the miners have
become suspicious OF one another and
quarrels are Of hourly occurrence Ey-
cry mans hand is raised against every
other man. The lawless characters are
much in evidence and dissensions and
discords have broken cut among the
miners until such a thing as co-opera-
tion is impossible.
Governor Brady is quoted as saying
that the situation is laden with trou-
BILE, and that he intends notifying the
department at Washington Of the cen Z
dition Of affairs In spite of the at
tempts Of the miners committee to close
the trail so that ii can be repaired, one
party of twelve, with drawn revolvers
and loadea rifles. announced their in
tention Of going through to the summit.
Armed Men i'm Pursuit.
They passed a guard OF miners and
set out for the summit. The commit
tee was called together and a number
of armed men sent to head them off
If trouble is averted it will be by the
greatest good luck. Men have lost all
sense Of reason, and spirit of despera-
tion and reckless obliviousness to con-
sequences pervades the camp.
George B. Kittinger, manager of
Millionaire Addicks Klondike expedi-
ton, arrived from the Skaguay trail on
the steamship Queen. In an interview
he confirms the dark accounts sent out
Of the condition of affairs at Camp
Skaguay. Miners are breaking down
under the terrible strain caused by the
hardships they are compelled to endure
Failures are numerous. Thieving and
crime have increased to such a degree
that Friday, Aug. q, the executive
committee met and promulgated an
order to the effect that the first man
caught stealing would be hanged with
out even the formality of a trial or
leave TO say his prayers.