Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-07-26
OTHERS DIED FROM scURvY
MRS. BENs' STORY OF HER TERRI
BILE EXPERIENCE.
Great Destitution at ST. Michacl's-
Conflicting Stories ms TO the
Richness of the Cape Nome
Country-SI, 100000 of
klondike Gold.


Bertha arrived this morning from St Mi
chael, via Unalaska, with ninety-seven pas
sengers and about 100000 in gold, $780,
600 of which is in charge of Purser Keyes.
The largest amount brought down by one
person is $4,000. The purser says that
| there Is wealth in the Cape Nome district
and declares that there is no truth in the
stories of failure TO find gold which have
been published.
Details of the loss of the Bens expedition
are told by passengers. Out of a party Of
seventeen people who left Port Townsend
June II, 1898, for Kotzebue Sound to pros
pect for gold, only one survives and that
is Mrs. H. w. Bens. of Clay City, Ky.
For twelve weeks she watched over her
sick husband, with no one to aid her, and
when he died she was left entirely alone
in the bleak wilderness. After walking
nine miles, she found a cabin in which
three fishermen were wintering. She be-
! came sick of scurvy, but was tenderly
cared for and finally reached st. Michaels,
and took passage for San Francisco on
the Bertha. She will go to Bay City, Mich,
where she has a mother, brother and sis
ter.
1t was not until Mrs. Bens reached Nu-
lato on her way South that she heard that
the members of the party which had been
left behind on the steamer Elk had all died
during the winter and spring from scurvy,
and that all had been buried on a small
island. These unfortunates were: Captain
Smith, First Mate Frank Johnson, Earl
Plummer, a young man from Port Town
| send; John Morrison, Duluth; Peter John
son, James Hutton, E. Cowder, Bay City.
Mich; Daniel Mccall, Illinois; Captain
Hibbard, and six men from the steamer
Eckert.
Mrs. Bens told of her terrible experience
| in voice checked by emotion
I'VE arrived in Seattle in October. 1897.
| from the East and after building a little
boat named Elk No. /, started for Kotze-
| bue, reaching there July ID, 1898 We an
chored several miles up the Selewick river
In August, Andrew Moore. Frank Bowen,
Andrew Laird, = Noble, and three others
went back, their prospecting having shown
| little or nothing. DR.. Better, of Trenton
N. j., then Joined the party and with the
others remained on the vessel during the
winter. OF their sad fate L have only re-
| Gently been told. Mr.. Bens built boat
| and he and went some eighty miles up the
Tagragawfck river in search of gold. Here
We found seven men, including Captain
| Hibbard, from the steamer Eckert. We
erected a cabin and Mr.. Bens went back
| to the Elk for provisions. He was caught
in storm and for sixty hours was with
out food or shelter. This led to the sick
| ness which caused his death.
Captain Hibbard and his men Joined the
others on the Elk. and / went with my hus-
| band to the Hoosli river, a tributary of
| Koyukuk. There we pitched our tent, and
there, after nearly three months suffering
| from scurvy. Mr.. Bens breathed his last.
| He was buried by the three fishermen,
1
| are Charles Grant, of Maine, and john
son and Hansen, of Seattle. They made a
| rude bier of frs and saplings, and on it
| carved rude square and compass, a NAL
| tese cross and his initials. so the remains
| might be identified If ever found
OF the gold brought from the Klondike
on the Bertha, $500, ,UU0 belongs TO the Alaska
Commercial Company, and over 100000 is
said to be in the hands of three fortunate
miners and spectators, s. NJ. Liggett, G.
of Fresno, Cal, brother-in-law of Clar-
ence Berry, one of the first to make a big
strike at Dawson, is reported to have about
$4,000. OF the ninety-seven passengers
only thirty-five bring out more than a few
| hundred dollars cash, while about twenty
are without cent.
Previous stories of privations at st.
| Michaels are confirmed by the passengers
who say there are hundreds, If not thou
sands, of men there without beds or money
to buy food. The rush from Dawson,
| HuW De obtained at the
cheapest rates, continues, and is sure to
add to the destitution at the coast ports
The reports from Cape Nome are ex-
| tremely conflicting. The officers of the
Bertha, s. Al. Liggett and several other
miners, say that the district is even richer
| than has been stated, but others declare
! that nothing of value has yet developed
DR.. Southwell, of this city, boarded the
vessel at Cape Nome and presented many
| of the passengers with valuable nuggets
". B; Jqdson, of Los Angeles. Cal, says
IL will take $4,000 to work 100 foot cIairo
| at Gold Hill
The steam schooner Albian is reported to
have sold an entire cargo of liquor at
| Cape Nome in one day, the price ranging
as high as 81 bottle for whisky, and 81
| for beer. The settlement grew from a
| dozen tents to a city of several thousand
people within a few weeks. There has been
| considerable disorder and fifteen revolvers
| have been sent from st. Michels to that
point All the claims on the water front
| have been ia ken up, and the mountains
back of the place are staked Off There is
nothing left for newcomers, who must pur-
chase claims from those already on the
| ground.
BAY CITY. MICH. July 25.-Mrs. Har-
mon w. Bens, only survivor of the steam
| er Elk expedition. Is AZ years of age. Be-
her husband on all his hunting and sail.
ing expeditions. She never knew fear and
can swim and handle firearms and is an
! accurate rife shot. She once went with
| Eer husband into moonshiner's camp lr
| the Kentucky mountains, where she was
| threatened with death on suspicion of be.
| ing a government spy. Mrs. Bens had nc
| Eesitancy about going to Alaska.
|
| Lawn Golf