The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-13
OUTLAWRY in ALASKA.
Many a Miner Has Lost Life and Gold al
the Hands Of Desperadoes
Examples OF Lawlessness.

From the Chicago Tribune
Murder and robbery on a wholesale
scale mark the mountain trails of Alaska
The paths which lead to and from the
country of the Elondike are beset with
inhuman ghouls who kill and steal with
immunity. There is scarcely q 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 outlawry, and the evil has assumed
such terrifying proportions that the
strong arm of the federal military de-
partmentshas been invoked to suppress 1t.
This at least is the sensational story
brought II Chicago by George +. Barry,
+. l.. Heating and others who have lately
come back from Dawson City, and they
tell it with an air of earnestness which
forces conviction upon the listener. In
it may be found an explanation of the
action of the government in hurriedly dis
patching a comparatively large detach-
.nent of troops to Alaska at a time when
the food supplies In store there are ad-
mittedly scarce, and the addition of even
n few more hungry men makes the sit
uatiOn still more serious from the stand
point of famine.
Conservative men assert that at least
S2,OUO, 900 worth of gold dust and food
| supplies have been stolen in the Klondlke
country during the the last twelve
| months, most Of it inside the last half
year, as the opportunities for plunder of
| this kind have increased with the desire
| of miners who had made a fortune to
get back TO the states and enjoy it,
LIKE A DIME NOVEL.
The most direct confirmation OF the re-
| port comes from George +. Barry, who
is now in Chicago after an experience of
| eighteen months in the Klondike district.
| lie says:
| My story sounds so much like a dime
| novel adventure that ! am almost
| ashamed to talk about it. To say that a
party of twenty miners was murdered
in one batch by bandits is coming 1t pref
| ty strong, and yet | believe such was
| their fate. / went over the Dyea trail
with party of six early in March. 1897
| The trail was then new and in bad shape
and We were 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 laid
out our claims. We had fair luck ard
before winter set in had cleaned up nearly
| $4,000 apiece. In the meantime twenty
| other miners had come down from the
| klondike region and made their homes in
! the valley, so we had a thriving little
camp all to ourselves.
| Toward the last of September two
| strangers claiming to be unlucky prospec-
| tors, wandered into camp and spent a
week with us. BY that time We were all
| anxious to get back to Dawson, as We
had 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 professed to know all about the
| mountains, and said they could easily
| guide us thrC Ugh the passes To the Daw-
son trail. A deal was made with them to
act as guides for the party, their pay
to be $500 each, payable in gold dust Us
soon as Dawson was within sight
81 don't know how it was, but in some
manner became suspicious of the stran-
gers, and at the last minute Pete Farrell
Dutch Bauer and l dropped out OF the
party. We were all convinced the alleged
guides We're lying, and We refused to trust
ourselves with them. Our Cnly tear then
was that they were making a bold 'bluf
TO earn $1,000, and might get us tangled
up and lost in the mountains. We had
no idea that they We're pilots for a band
of ghOuls, as they afterward turned out
to be- We tried to induce the other camp.
ers TO wait for IA more favorable oppur.
tunity, but the strangers had Won them
over, and early i'm October Farrell, Bauer
and myself bade the other twenty good,
bye and they struck off over the hills tC
the north. Nobody has even seen ol
heard of any member of that party, ex
cept the guides since that day.
"One week later Farrell, Bauer and
struck camp and took up a trail to tn,
west Before the main body leIt it wa.
agreed We would all meet in Dawson
After five weeks struggle and grea
suffering our little band of three reache,
Dawson, and We were surprised to learl
that our friends had not arrived there
We waited nearly month for them, anC
then started for home. Dawson is ful
OF energetic newspaper men waiting Il
send out the news of big strikes, ant
the arrival of party of twenty mel
with fully 200 in gold dust between
them could not possibly have been over
looked. All three of us made efforts L
induce the Dawson people TO get up
rescuing party, but We're unsuccessful
MURDER CONFESSED.
|, "As I have said, we waited for nearl
: a month, and then got ready to start TO
home Just as We were about to leaV
town ! ran into one of the ghoulish guide
in IA gambling house, and at once aske
E him where our friends were. The cha
2 was drunk and ugly, and replied, with "A
Y | insoent leer: If you'll 60 back a fe,
= hundred miles on the trail you'll fin
them waiting for YOU The holiness {
p his answer made me lose my head, an
a instead of letting the matter drop ther
| started in to mix up with him. Thi
was job | got the worst Of as the roor
was full of desperadoes who were plainl
in sympathy with him, and at the frs
5 opportunity turned tail and ducked ou
I N the den, something / should have don
4 at tho beginning, before speaking to tn
. bandit.
s Hunting up Farrell and Bauer | tol
: them of what had occurred, and we q
once went to the authorities ana laid III
matter before them. inside of an hour
posse of thirty armed men was ready I
- surround the gambling house and tax