The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-03-09
MURDER AND ROBBERY I
ALASKA,

Many a Klondike Miner, 1t is Said,
Has Lost Life and Gold at the
Hands of Outlaws
Murder and robbery on a wholesale
scale mark the mountain trails in
Alaska. The paths which lead to and
from the country of the Klondike are
beset with inhuman ghouls who kill
and steal with impunity. There is
scarcely mile of the overland road
on which gold-laden miners return
from the new Eldorado that does not
bear the mark of some fiendish crime
of outlawrv, and the evil has assumed
such terrifying proportions that the
strong arm of the federal military de-
partment has been invoked to suppress
1t.
This at least Is the sensational story
brought to Chicago by George F. Bar
ry, r. Il. Heating, and others who
have lately come back with an air of
earnestness which forces conviction
upon the listener. In it may be found
an explanation of the action sof the
government in hurriedly dispatching
q comparatively large detachment or
troops to Alaska at time when the
food supplies in store there are admit
tedly scarce, and the addition or even
few more hungry men makes the
situation still more serious from the
standpoint of famine.
Conservative men assert that at
least $2,000.000 worth of gold dust and
food supplies have been stolen in the
Klondike country during the last II
months, most of it inside the last half
year, as the opportunities for plumber
of this kind have increased with the
desire Of miners who had made for
tune to get back to the states and en-
joy it.
The most direct confirmation of the
report comes from George F. Barry,
who is now in Chicago after an expert
ence of IS months in the Klondike dis
trict. He says:
my story sounds so much like a
dime novel adventure that I am al
most ashamed to talk about 1t. To say
that party of 90 miners was muir
dered in one batch by bandits Is COM
ing it pretty strong, and yet I be-
lieve such was their fate. Il went over
the Dyea trail with party Of six ear
ly in March, 1897. The trail was then
compelled to throw away a lot of our
supplies before we could get through
We finally settled In what is now
| known as Dead Mule valley and lai6
out our claims. We had fair luck an6
| before winter set in had cleaned VI
nearly $4,000 apiece In the meantime
| 20 other miners had come down from
| the KIondike region and made Their
| homes in the valley, so we had {
| thriving little camp all to ourselves.
| Toward the last Of September two
strangers, claiming to be unluck,
4 prospectors, wandered into camp anc
spent week with us. BY that tim'
we were all anxious to get back t.
Dawson, az we had decided to star
for home from there, but had no
made up our minds as to the best wa,
of reaching the town. The two strang
ers professed to know all about TIN
/ mountains and said they could easil.
guide US through the passes to tn
Dawson trail. A deal was made will
them to act as guides for the party
their pay to be $500 each, payable il
gold dust as soon as Dawson wa
within sight.
II don't know how it was, but II
some manner I became suspicious o
the strangers, and at the last minut
Pete Farrell, Dutch Bauer and / drop
ped out of the party. We were all con
WINGED the alleged guides were lying
and we refused to trust ourselves will
them. Our only fear then was tina
they were making bold bluff to earl
the 81 900, and might get us tangled III
and lost in the mountains. We had nj
idea they were pilots for a band 0
ghouls, as they afterward turned on
to be. We tried to induce the othe
campers to wait for more favorabl
opportunity, but the strangers ha'
won them over, and early in Octobe
Farrell, Bauer and myself babe tn
other 20 good-by and they struck OF
over the hills to the north. Nobod,
has ever seen or heard of any mem
Der of that party, except the guides
since that day.
| NIIlC WEEK ldtGIr dTEtl, Ddutl anu
struck camp and took up trail to tn
west Before the main body left
was agreed we would all meet j
Dawson. After a five-weeks' strug
gle and great suffering our little ban
of three reached Dawson, and we wer
surprised to learn that our friend
had not arrived there. We waite
nearly month for them, and the
started for home, convinced it woul
do no good to wait longer. Dawson
full of energetic newspaper men wait
ing to send out the news Of big strike
and the arrival of a party of 20 me
with fully 100000 in gold dust betwee
them could not possibly have bee
overlooked. All three of us made et