The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-02-16
Strange Tale From
Alaska WildS.
THE WRONG SAM ROBERTS
MRS. GEER LEARNS THAT HER
BROTHER WAS NOT SLAIN.
Three Men Are Now in San Quentin
for Robbing and Killing
Man Who Is Really at
SkaGuay.

a." With love to mother and your
self, I remain, your brother, who is very
much alive SAM ROBERTS"
The letter of which the foregoing is the
conclusion brought joy to a family in this
city, for the writer had long been given
up as lost-foully murdered for his gold
in the wilds of Alaska. Several years ago
Sam Roberts, son of Mrs. L. A. Roberts
and brother of Mrs. Addie Geer of 1425
Golden Gate avenue, went out into the
world to seek his fortune. He engaged in
the cattle and land business in Arizona,
but the Mexican cattle thieves drove off
his herds and the price of land fell. Next
heard of him, he was with relatives in the
State of Washington, and last came the
information that the glitter of gold in the
new fields of Alaska had TUNED his foot
steps to the frozen north.
The next information Of the wanderer
was severe shock to the family. The
daily papers told a tale of how Sam Rob-
erts was murdered for his gold in lonely
cabin on the Dyea trail. The story was
that the unfortunate man had cleaned up
about $32 900 in gold from his claims and
was last seen alive in the company OF
three Well-known desperate characters
Fitzpatrick, Brooks and Corbett by name.
The next the body was found murdered
in the cabin and all of the money gone.
A crowd of the rough but honest miners
of the north made search and found the
men suspected of having committed the
crime. But for the strenuous efforts of
the law and order committee the three
tree on the trail. The Alaska court was
not slow, and the circumstantial evidence
was so strong against them that 1mprls-
onment was the verdict
For Fitzpatrick the judgment was life
imprisonment, he being considered to be
the most guilty of the trio. Brooks and
Corbett were sentenced for ten years
each. There being no State prisons in
Alaska, the three convictS were sent TO
California, and after nearly escaping from
the deputies in charge were landed IN san
Quentin Mrs. Geer communicated with
the authorities in Alaska and described
her brother, even to the mole on the right
side of his nose. The answer dashed all
hope to the ground, for the description
of the murdered man correspondent to
dot with that of the long absent brother,
and the mother, daughter and younger
children mourned him as lost. One day
they received strange visitor. She in
troduced herself as Mrs. Dickerson Of
Alameda, sister of Fitzpatrick in San
Quentin. She said that she had talked
with her brother in the prison and was
sure that he never killed Sam Roberts in
Alaska
stances and the fury of an unreasonable
mob of gold hunters who were deter
the unfortunate Sam Roberts had been
killed by some one else. Mrs. Dicker-
son evidently was looking toward the
the minds of the public and when a par
don might be obtained for her brother.
Without any opposition from the family
of the murdered man the task would be
much easier.
Several months ago by chance Mrs;
Geer happened to hear of a man named
Roberts who was interested in a news
paper in Skaguay, and although she be-
heved that her brother was dead and bu-
ried, she wrote to the Roberts of the
Skaguay paper Yesterday mother and
children received a surprise that nearly
took away their senses, for when the
postman handed them letter the adj
dress as in a handwriting too well
known to DE mistaken. The chirography
of the supposed murdered man was al
most identical with that of his father,
the late Judge Roberts of this city.
1t was from Sam Roberts, not him
whose lonely grave is beside the Dyea
trail and whose identity may never be
known, but from the son and brother
mourned as dead. The writer said that
he knew of 1.-The other Sam Roberts and
of his tragic end, but never thought that
any attention would be paid to it here,
because so many POOR fellows have met
with similar fates in Alaska, of which
the outside world knows nothing. Rob-
erts gave the cheering information that
he is in excellent health, owns part in
terest in daily newspaper IN Skagray
and owns several mining claims, besides
being very much alive" The other fea-
lures deal with family affairs, and con-
cludes in the language already quoted
An extraordinary burden has been lifted
from the family at 1425 Golden Gate ave-