The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-09

strangers. Claiming 10 w uuluChy pIoo'
pectors, wandered into camp and spent q
week with us. By that time we were all
anxious to get back to Dawson, as we hac
decided to start for home from there but
had not made up our minds as to the best
way of reaching the town. The two
strangers professei to know all about the
mountains, and said they could easily
guide US through the passes to the Daw
SOD trail. A deal was made with them
to.act as guides for the party, their pay
to be $500 each. payable in gold dust al
soon as Dawson was within sight.
81 don't know how it was, but in some
manner I became suspicious of the strang
ers. and at the last minute Pete Farrell
Dutch Bauer and dropped out of the
party. We were all convinced the alleged
guides we're lying, and we refused tt
trust ourselves with them. Our only feal
then was that they were making bolt
bluff to earn the $1,000, and might gel
us tangled up and lost in the mountains
We had no idea that they were pilots fol
q band Of ghouls, as they afterwart
turned out to be. We tried to induce thu
other campers to wait for a more favorable
opportunity, but the strangers had wor
them over, and early in October Farrell
Bauer and myself babe the other twenty
goodby and they struck off over the hill
to the north. Nobody has ever seen o.
heard of any member of that party, ex
cept the guides. since that day.
lone week later Farrell, Bauer, and
struck camp and took up trail to thu
west. Before the main body left it wa
agreed we would all meet in Dawson
After fve-weeks' struggle and great
suffering our little band of three reached
Dawson, and we were surprised to Learn
that our friends had not arrived there
We waited nearly month for them, ant
then started for home, convinced IL would
do no good to wait longer. Dawson II
full of energetic newspaper men waiting
to send ont the news of big strikes, ant
the arrival of party Of twenty men witt
fully 500, Oc0 in gold dust between them
could not possibly have been overlooked
All three of us made efforts to induce the
Dawson people to get up resouing party
but were unsuccessful.
GAS / have said, we waited for nearly {
month, and then got ready to start fol-
home. just as we were about to leave
town I ran into one of the ghoulisl
guides in gam bling house, akd at once
asked him where our friends We're. Tht
chap was drunk and ugly, and replied,
with an insolent leer. IF you'll go bach
a few hundred miles on the trail you'll
find them waiting for you The bold
ness of his answer made me lose my head
and instead of letting the matter droI
there started IN TO mix up WIN MIN
This was job got the worst of, as the
room was full Of desperadoes who wer'
plainly in sympathy with him, and at thu
first opportunity turned tail and ducket
out of the den, something | should have
done at the beginning, before speaking te
the bandit.
Hunting up Farrell ard Bauer, tolc
them of what had occurred, and we al
once went to the authorities and laid the
matter before them. Inside of IN hour g
posse of thirty armed men was ready te
surround the gambling house and take
out the ghoul, but while we were making
our preparations the fellow had beer
taken away by his companions, and we
could not pick up the trail.
ssLater we learned that the man went
under the name of yellow Tom,' and
was an all-round bad man. Two days
before we reached Dawson he had shown
up with big lot of gold dust, which it is
now plain was stolen from the men he
murdered. Stronger proof than this was
found in sled which was owned by one
of our Dead Mule Valley party. This
was unearthed in secondhand supply
store, along with some guns and blank
cts, which had no trouble in identify
ing, and the proprietor said positively he
had bought the stuff from yellow
Tom.