The San Francisco call., 1898-03-04
- Soldiers on Board Disperse a Mob of Angry Long
 Sh hOpemen.
TERRITORY IN DISPUTE.
British Flag HOisted on DebatabIe Ground-Restriction and Gus
 toms Duties.
Special Dispatch to The Call.


 Queen arrived in port this afternoon from Alaska. According to Captain Wallace. the presence of a company of Federal troops was all that saved the Queen from falling into the hands of angry longshoremen when she landed at her wharf at Skaguay last Friday. The affair was a renewal of : the old trouble between the unem- ployed at Skaguay and the Pacific Coast Steamship Company over the unloading of its steamers by Indians, who have been paid 25 cents an hour. The first rush was an entire victory for the longshoremen and the Indians hastened to get back on the boat. One of them was crowded off the gang plank and nearly drowned.
 When some one in the crowd drew a revolver and began firing at the In dians the no soldiers on board the steamer left the Queen, made charge on the longshoremen and soon cleared the wharf They stood guard over the ship while the unloading was in prog ress to guard against threatened at tempt to blow up the big steamer. The Indians unloaded the ship. The fact that the soldiers were on guard probably caused the passengers of the
 
 Victoria Wednesday, to give out the report that martial law had been de- clared at Skaguay.
 The Al-Ki had trouble of a similar nature some time ago, in which the white longShoremen were rushed off the wharf after hand to hand en- counter with the Indians brought up from Juneau and the crew of the steamer. A United States Deputy Marshal made the crowd disperse. When the Queen finished unloading at Juneau, the thirty-fiVe Indians that had been doing the work were taken aboard and carried to Skaguay. They do the work for 9 cents an hour, and the company refuses to pay the 50 and 75 cents demanded by the white men.
 B. F. Jones of Denver was one of the Queens passengers to-day. He adds another name to the victims whose lives were sacrificed on the Clara Nevada. He states positively that his friend, Frank Reno of Mem phis, Tenn, whose occupation was that of a waiter, started south on the Clara Nevada. The two men were together shortly before the steamer sailed. Reno was a young man, who had spent considerable time in Seattle before going north. He wanted to go into the gold fields, but grew discouraged, aid decided to return to the States. Among the crew of the Nevada was a waiter ." named Frank Perkins. He has been reported as among the lost. According to Jones, however, he still lives, and is now at Skaguay. He says that Per kinS decided to remain north, and so left the steamer. He had been in the service of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company for a number of years past.
 The day the Clara Nevada sailed, Jones went up over the trail to the lakes, returning to Skaguay last Fri day He states that the story Is untrue a Q Rrif flag on disputed territory. The report, he thinks, has been started because a Canadian official is at Summit Lake, where he merely warns Klondikers against attempting to push on to Daw- son unless they are properly pro- visioned. This official informs them that it will be useless to proceed far ther unless their packs are of such weight that when they reach Tagish Lake they will have 1000 pounds of provisions.
 Every prospector Is required to have that amount, otherwise the Canadian authorities will refuse to permit him to continue on his journey to the land of pebbly gold.
 Eugene R. Knapp of Boston also came down on the Queen. He expresses the opinion that the reports first sent out about the hoisting of the British flag = on disputed territory were untrue, but he now claims to have later informa- tion that puts different phase on the matter Mir. Knapp says that one or his teamsters came into Skaguay at ' II 30 o'clock last Saturday night. The teamster states that about 4 o'clock that afternoon he witnessed the Canad- ian police plant their flag one mile the other side of the summit; also that they had moved the customs quarters eight miles nearer salt water and with in ten miles of where the flag had been planted
 A correspondent from Skaguay writes that false information is given out at Victoria and Vancouver, when it is stated that there is no duty to pay, and that the $6 inspectors fee for ac- companying outfits is not exacted. He interviewed Deputy Collector James D. Floyd on the subject. who said: There is absolutely no change in the instruc- tiOns from the department. We are collecting duties or requiring parties from Canada to give a good bond and be accompanied by an inspector at s6 per day"