The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-26
Provision Boats from st. MichaeI's Are
said to Have Failed to Reach
Dawson City.
STRANGE AILMENT REPORTED
MINERS ALLEGED TO BE DYING OF A
MYSTERIOUS SICKNESS.
Report of Captain Ray, Who Was Sent
to Alaska by the Governments
Tragedies and Thievery.

SEATTLE, Wash, Oct 25.-Miners who
came down on the steamer Farrallon from
Dyea and who left Dawson City about forty
days ago say that five days before they
left Hansen one of the managers of the
Alaska Commercial Company arrived in a
canoe and told of the abandonment of eff
forts to get food up the river Fully four
hundred miners made preparations to start
out over the trails, but the citizens COM
mittee refused to allow them sufficient pro-
visions for the journey, so all will have to
remain and share in the privations ut Daw-
son. Charlie Friese, of Tacoma who came
out with Butt Woods and Archie Burns,
said that besides the famine a mysterious
disease has broken out and is carrying off
an average of five men daily. Twenty-four
hours after the victim is attacked he turns
black from the waist to the throat and two
days later, In a majority of cases, is dead.
On it's way out over the Dalton trail, which
in many places runs along the Yukon's
banks, the party met many boats bound
down. About three hundred boats are now
going down the river with from four to
seven men in each boat. The F'riese party
was the last to leave Dawson.
1t was only by the merest chance and the
lucky discovery of the half hidden trail by
one Of their number saved six members of
a party headed by P l.. and Julius Trippe
from horrible death by starvation on the
Dalton trail late in September. The party
consisted of the Trippe brothers, formerly
of Chicago; Charles Wilkes, OF Whatcom;
Charles 6. Dugas, miner from Juneau;
John Fry, of this city, and w. Gillies, of
Woodman, a prospector living at Fort
Wrangel. They left Dawson City in a small
aft fncr
Selkirk, prepared their outfits for the long
and arduous journey over the Dalton trail.
A week after leaving the Yukon river they
encountered deadly Alaskan blizzard. The
trail was covered with snow and they lost
their bearings Their provisions ran out
and, after cropping for three days during the
binding snowstorm, they were finally taken
to Dalton trading post. where they obtained
the first real food they had had for nearly
four days. In that time the only other
nourishment they had was soup made from
an owl and an old strap. After resting for
two days they resumed their march to the
Chikoot pass and reached the end of their
tourney without further mishap. All of the
men were very weak from their sufferings
and it will be several days before they are
restored to their accustomed strength.
The passengers of the Farrallon bring
the news of a murder committed near Lake
Tagish Oct. /. Two men from Seattle,
named Henderson and Peterson, quarreled
over a trivial matter, and Henderson, after
stabbing Peterson with bowie knife sew
eral times, drew a revolver and beat his
victims head into a jelly. Peterson dled
soon after from the effects of his wounds
Henderson was arrested and bound to
tree for ten days, until the arrival of the
Canadian mounted police, VINO took him to
Dawson City for trial. %
A letter dated Skaguay, Alaska, OCT. II
says: "SilaS Hamilton, of Seattle, was
drowned Friday morning in Summit lake,
sixteen miles from Lake Bennett, On To, ,ne
and r. N Redfield, also of Seattle, were
going down the lake in small boat neaV-
ily laden. The morning was very foggy
making navigation difficult and dangerous.
heavy squat sprung up driving the Doat
into the breakers along the edge OF small
islet in the lake where it was capsized. Its
occupants We're thrown into the water and
Hamilton sunk like stone. Young ana
Redfed swan toward the shore ana Were
rescued by a passing boat. Hamilton
body has not been recovered, and, owing
to the intense cold Of the lake water 1T is
thought it will never be. His parents re-
'Three alleged thieves were captured
Thursday on the Skaguay trail Their
and william Davidson. They were former
ly residents Of Seattle. THESE men are
charged with stealing quantity OF proVi-
sions from Fred Bernard. The latter found
that a cache. on the trail had been robbed
and he tracked the thieves, found where
they had cached their plumber and set
watch upon it. A few days later O'Brien
Day and Davidson appeared, opened the
cache and loaded the provisions on their
horses Then Bernard and a number of
companions seized the men and took them
down the trail a few miles, where twenty
five or thirty angry men debated the fate
of their prisoners. Lynching was fiercely
urged by some, but wiser counsels pre-
vailed and the men were brought to town
and turned over to the deputy United
States marshal, who placed them under
heavy guard. They are now in the town
jail awaiting trial. The prisoners assert
their innocence and say that Bernard's
cache was opened by mistake.
The steamer Navarro arrived here this
morning from st. MichaePs. She left there
Oct 10 one day before the steamer Hum
boldt, and, consequently, brings no late
news. She brought forty passengers, who
failed to reach the Klondike, and were so
utterly Disguised with themselves that they
exacted a promise from Captain Higgins
not to give out their names. The majority
of them went to Alaska on the schooner
North E0rlx from San Francisco