Alaska sentinel., 1905-02-16

ished. The collector of customs and his deputies constituted the sole authority of the country, civil, military and naval, and under these conditions the most urgent appeals were sent 10 Washington, but to no avail.
 l, at this time, being informed by my brother of the conditions, asked our representative to con gress, the late Nelson Dingley, why something had not been done in congress for the better government Of Alaska, and he replied by tell ing me that congress had not had 1 time"
 At this time, when Alaska had neither law nor order, the spirit and genius that is implanted in the character of the American peo- pie came to the rescue by a popu- lar government of their own. Its sole basis was the consent ot the majority and by this method there was peace and order for a time.
 The reader may smile, but there are still preserved in the archives of the town of Sitka, the records of a full-fledged city-city ordin- ces prefaced by the usual high sounding formula: "The mayor of the common council of the city of Sitka ordains," etc.,-ip a country where there was neither common nor statutory lay, and it is none the less true that this government not only maintained peace and or der, but under these auspices many public Improvements were made. Later came the "Miners' Code" the outgrowth of the conditions and necessities in the early days of California, and which has been transplanted into every mining camp on the continent and in late years has received the approval of of the Supreme Court of the Unit cd States, in so far as it relates to property rights.
 But as to the bad conditions ex- isting for the last few years in this territory, where the United States has neglected to grant them terri torial government, one only need be resident 8 short time to learn that something should be done by congress to give the citizens of Al aska their rights, and do away with the carpet bag robbers whom the government has sent as officials into this territory.
 Having given tho reader some l idea of conditions, l will now con tinue along other lines. After be- ing turned down as executor of my brothers will and telling the com missioner I should take no action if MT. Reid was allowed to act, l returned to Maine. Mrs. Mary Ar thur Wilson was appointed as ad- ministratrix of the Thomas a Will son estate, she being sole heir, and Capt. Wilson making no will, the property her husband left became hers. She had appointed to aid her, T. c. McHugh, a business man in Wrangell. And after coming back to Maine l learned nothing regarding affairs going wrong until one day stranger said to me, "I see a man by you and he says he is your brother and that the busi- ness affairs pertaining to the rights of the family he left are going wrong and he says you must at tend to them; that he is not satis- fled with what the officials are do- ing, and that soon you will have to go to Alaska and see to the affairs be left" The person who spoke these words was a stranger to me, a resident of Maine. Where this strange communication came from l must leave for the readers to set tie for themselves, for l know only that these things were spoken to me by one that 1 don't believe knew anything as to my ever having a brother in Alaska.
 A few weeks alter thls was told to me received the following mes sage by telegraph: Nov 2, 1903, Juneau, Alaska, s. Sylvester, come at once, bring capable attorney, a fighter. Everything wrong, you and Reid sued for eighty-nine thou sand dollars. Wire answer T. c. McHugh." received this message Saturday afternoon and at once communicated with Judge Enoch H. Foster of Portland and asked if he could go to Alaska with me- He answered me he would and asked when 1 wished to start. l answer ed Next Monday" and he said he would go with me then. Monday l called at his law office in Port land and his law partner said: "The Judge wants you to come to his house." Upon reaching his house 1 found crepe on the door.