The San Francisco call., 1898-09-23
Thrilling Story of the Assassin ation of a Go|d-Seeker
 by Greedy Natives
BY HAL HOFFMAN.
Special Correspondence of Tn. Call.

JUNEAU, Alaska, Sept. 13.-Invita- tions to wholesale hanging at Ta- gish House on Tagish Lake are being extended throughout the Yukon Valley and Southeastern Alaska by the Cana dian police. Three Indians will aither have their necks broken or be stran- gled to death there, at the same time, in 8 few weeks. They killed one pros pector and would have murdered an- other but for miraculous circumstances which enabled him to escape. On this account the attendance of ingoing and outcoming Klondikers and Indians is likely to be very large. Dawson, Dyea, Skaguay and Juneau will be repre- sented by delegations, Juneau especial ly, as both the victims are old-time residents of this town.
 The crime of the Indians was the most unprovoked and one of the blood lest in the history of Alaska. The only survivor, George Fox, Is here now. He tells the first particulars of the thrilling crime which was briefly re- counted in The Call last summer, a. short time after it occurred.
 William Mehan and Fox left Juneau last winter. They sledded fine out fit to the head of the McClintock River, whence they intended to cross DOT tage to the HootalinQua River and work some sand bars on that stream. McClintock River empties into the lower end of Ilake Marsh, flowing from a northeaSterly direction. It Is the out let of small lake. But when the two men got to the head of the river it was along about the end of May, the DOT tage was bare of snow and they could not sled their stuff over. AS the cas- lest way out of the trap, they set about whipsawing lumber and build ing a boat to carry them back down the McClintock and up the Hootalin- qua The latter river is the outlet of Lake Teslin into the Lewis River.
 Near their camp was small Indian camp. The white men had potlatched 'ictus" (tobacco and other things) with the Indians and otherwise been friend ly to them When they were leaving camp with their stuff packed in the boat for down river, Fox took out his watch to note the time. He told Me- han that 1t was just 10:40. He had hardly dropped his watch back into his pocket and picked up his paddle when they were fired on by the h. dians from ambush in the rear. Fox sat In the bow. He was struck in the back. He fell partly over the. side. with one arm paralyZed and. hanging in the water. He exclaimed: I'm done for, Bill pull for your life" But poor Bill did not pull. He was dead, riddled by three bullets in the back, one through the heart. Fox could not see him, but his position enabled him to see the Indians running from the woods down to the shore. Fox moved involuntarily and they let him have another volley, as he lay helpless and bleeding in the boat. One bullet had gone clear through his body and lungs. But by this time the boat had drifted into rougher water and the second vol ley struck low. It found lodgment in a sack of flour and a case of corned beef.
 The current here set across the river against a point about half mile be- low. The Indians ran back into the woods. The moment Fox saw them run he knew what they intended to do. They would catch the boat as it grounded against the point. It would be all up with him then, if he wasn't as good as dead anyhow. His paddle luckily lay balanced on the gunwale, with just enough of it inside to keep 1t from falling into the water. He tried to paddle back to shore with his un- injured right arm, but was too weak. Then another idea struck him. To re- main in the boat and be caught at the point was certain death as the Indians would certainly kill him, having begun the job, in order to secure their outfit, the watch and their guns; on shore there was a chance for escape. In this critical emergency he placed the paddle into the water perpendicular to the boat and feebly turned it around toward the shore. Chance favored him, for in a few moments the boat ground ed on a small spot of sand near a grassy spit. There was a rotten log lying with one end near the water and the other up the bank.
 1T realized at once," said Fox, "the importance of leaving no trail, and for all I could do feared at least few drops of blood would escape from my clothes and stain the, grass. My clothes were soaked with it. I stepped from grass tuft to tuft as well as could, for was rapidly becoming weaker. When stepped on the end of the log 1t was so rotten that it broke away. But that was the only mark I left. I knew that when the Indians got the boat and found only one man in it they would start back to look for me- So I saw it would not do to stay down near the river, and made for the foothills I headed for the mouth of the river, where white men were camped and building boats, and there was also police camp. It took me seven hours to make those ten miles. It was the toughest time I ever had in my life. I was so weak that I gave up several times, but after having stopped few minutes would set out with renewed determination. I thought I would never get out. Green and yellow lights flashed before my eyes. I was blinded and butted my 1 face against trees, My legs would not move. But I said to myself: Brace Vrrx 1IA A@,atk l{< ov,I A l>