The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1897-09-09
MORE ABOUT KLONDIKE.
Our Special Correspondent Writes Of
"ScooES" an1 Rough Seas.
GOLD COMING FROM THE FIELDS.
4 Little Incident Relative to DR.. Henry
Ward Beecher's son and Other Mat
tiers. The Race to Get News
From the Frozen Country.

ships are encountered in cleaning the
latest authentic news from the Alaska
goldlields. During the past six days
| have been rolling and tumblina
about the Straits of Fuca. SleeL
could not be had at but short inter
walls of from five minutes to two hours
| have not had my clothes off for five
days and meals have been served,
when served at all, in cramped quar-
| ters in a Puget Sound tugbOat with
everything tied fast and a safety
railing around the table to keep the
cups and dishes from tumbling off and
! breaking.
Wednesday | came to town for a
few hours. and while waiting for a
stenographer TO take a few dictions,
| | fell sound asleep while sitting bolt
upright in a chair. That was the day
after the Associated Press and the st.
! Louis GlO6e-DeMOcrdt ''scooped' an
army of special correspondents on the
cream of the klondike news. To
! appreciate what, under the circum-
| stances scoop" means, it must be
remembered that the great newspa-
pers of the country had bright men
all along the Straits of Fuca from
Port Townsend to Cape Flattery,
and from "Townsend" to Tacoma on
Puget Sound. The San Francisco
E|uWtHeT ana New York J0UrHdt
"uombination" had at least fifteen
man da+oiIod to gat +ba Alaska neyrs
49, c,4 NI:.I',.ll, Gs,4 49,, t1l' lr, 10
VI" % N'IcIl"eIs' Ollc '"S' tlle wan
derer had eleven of these men aboard
at one time. The Wanderer, together
with the tug Sea Lion, the latter Be
ing one or the most speedy tugs III
the world, were detailed to watch for
the steamship Portland off Cape
Elattery, at the entrance to the
Straits OF tuca, between the state OF
Washington and the island of Van
cOuVer.
Wen, the ball opened Tuesday
night, August gath. had just writ
ten my last hlondlke letter and m
mediately took passage from Tacoma
'Ai W ~ SUM my VI '-N''bb4N
Tor Port townsend. arrived at The
latter place at 40 n. M, and before
the steamer had made fast l was
hurrylng along the docks III quest OF
q tug. While l was thus engaged,
Happef lttie youth tflpped along ana
broke III with the question;
say captain, where IS your tug
gong to-day:
10 W hatcom Tor snip.
10 Nhatcom, is that near Cape
fiattery? There followed a roar OF
laughter from the men on the deck
and the sklppers, winch was well
warranted, lnasmuch as Whatcom L
ABOUT 100 miles from "fiattery, and
as 'loWnSenu IS much nearer the
port TO which the tug IS bound. AND
yet, there at nan past lour clock OF
4 cherries morning was Il dapper
little man, reporter Tor the San
Francisco L'r0HltHer, pokinG around
trying TO ilnq some means OF commu-
nlcatlnE "lth cape FIaItcrN where
the vessels from the far north are first
sighted.
Sometimes they are not sighted
there, to the sorrow OF a dozen bright
newspaper men, as VIII explain later
on III explaining how the G{obt-DeM-
ocr0t was the only newspaper in the
country that got special correspon-
dent aboard the latest vessel from st.
Michael.
The dapper little reporter referred
to was scnterprising but his knowledge
OF geography was partlcu-
larly as regards Puget Sound points.
\ minute or two after he had left the
dock | had made arrangements with
Captain Herbert f. 3cecher to go
down the straits aboard the tug Dis
covery. Captain Beecher is a son of
the late Henry Ward Beecher but a
man not aware of that fact would
never know it from Captain Beecher
himself. Even one Of his nautical
friends whom | afterwards met at sea
did not know it. Captain Beecher
Goes not swear - rather unusual
among Puget Sound tugbOat masters
and, should Judge, he is what is
called a "home man. for he said,