The San Francisco call., 1899-07-01
STRIKES IN CAPE
NOME DISTRICT
Cause a Rush of Miners
to Snake River.
STAMPEDE FROM DAWSON
THOUSANDS START FOR THE
RICH DIGGINGs.
The Murder and Robbery of a Gold
Seeker Causes the Prompt
Capture and Lynching
of the Assassin.

Special Dispatch to The Call.


VICTORIA. b. c, June 3O.-News
reached here this: morning confirming
the rich strikes reported from the Cape
Nome district. On.June - little band
Of miners reached Dawson for proyi-'
sions. bringing letters and news of such
rich strikes that the people of Dawson
went wild with excitement, and two
days later thousands were on their way
down the river bound to the rich piacers
of Snake River. River steamers which
had intended to leave for the White
Horse were billed for Csi2--Nome, and
they were soon filled to their utmost ca
pacity.
The steamer Sovereign sailed on the
morning of the 14th with over 500 DaW-
sonians. who, with but two days no
tice had Strengthened up their AFFAIRS
and started for Nome The Seattle and
another steamer soon followed All
were crowded. The scene. at the
wharves was a wild and exciting one.
1t was just Ike the departures Of the
big vessels from San Francisco during
the rush of 1897.
The three steamers only took a pOr-
ton Of the stampeders. There were
hundreds who piled their outfits on
small boats ScOWS and rafts-in fact,
ANYTHING that would fioat-and drifted
down the Yukon to the new gold fields
1t was a mad stampede the most eX-
citing that has yet occurred in the his
tory of the KIondike.
Dawson papers say it was the most
excited stampede since that memora bic
rush Of 1896 from Fort Yukon, Circle
and adjacent diggings to rich Bonanza
and the KlOndike.
That the new districts are richer than
r., II
is shown by the tone of the letters from
the miners now there to their friends
at Dawson. Letters from miner to
a miner always give the most reliable
news of gold discoveries. and on recelV-
ing letters from Cape Nome numbers of
Dawsonians sold their business and
ioined the mad rush. The text of
nearly all the letters in a nutshell was,
Sell out and come at once; the dig
gings are the richest ever found The
majority of those who received letters,
together with their friends, did so and
swelled the ranks of the stampeders.
The letters and the miners from Nome
told Of pans taken from the rich tribu-
taries Of Snake River. ranging in value
from $40 to $50. Four men who We're at
work on Anvil Creek took out $1,000 in
three days. Others working on Snow
Creek panned out $500 in two days.
One man who has claim on Callfor"
MIA Creek found a nugget during Feb
ruary worth $142.
The rich finds reported from the dis
trtCts are said to have been made on
the tributaries Of the Snake River.
which enters the Arctic Sea at Nome
CITY. some miles north Of Cape Nome.
Anvil Creek, which falls from the
Anvil Mountains about thirty miles
from its mouth, is giving fabulously
rich pans.
The first tragedy in the district is re-
1,s>I
Dawson They tell of robbery and
murder and the subsequent capture
and lynching Of the murderer. Early
i'm March some say the 2d, and some
the 4th, the cabin Of George Barrow on
Sunset Creek, a feeder Of the Snake
River was entered. Barrow was mur
dered and about $4,000 in gold. which he
had in the cabin, was stolen Barrow
not going out to work as usual. the
other miners went down TO his shack
10 see if he was sick. To their sur
prise and horror they found the unfOr-
tunate miner laying on the floor Of the
cabin with blood streaming from a
gaping wound in his throat. A blood
stained razor lying near by showed
how the murder had been committed.
The murderer had cut the throat of his
victim, stolen the money and fed.
The miners gathered at the cabin and
were not long in organizing a searching
part TO look. for the murderer. An
hour after the discovery Of the body
eleven men were on the murderars S
trail. and three hours later he was cap
tured while on his way down the Snake
River with the stolen gold in his posses
sion. When confronted with the evidences
of his crime he confessed. A rope was
stretched over q nearby tree and within
four hours after the discovery Of the
murder, the murderer-a German who
went into the Cape Nome district from
the kOyakuk district-Was executed by
The enraged miners.