Charlevoix county herald., 1911-02-04

M lutIt Is one DTdHCu Ol lut Oulteu
States naval service in which men
and officers alike undergo wild ad-
ventures, see strange sights and
'A- suffer great hardships 1t is the
Alaskan revenue cutter service. Pur-
suing criminals in a country wilder
even than the bailiwick of the Cana
dian mounted police, sailing uncharted
arctic seas, capturing Japanese seal
smugglers, studying chronological and
geographical conditions among un-
named races and unmapped countries,
theiXlves are filled with the romance
and 11e privations, the mystery and
the revelations of the true pioneer.
Lieut. Leroy Reinburg, who is In
charge of the revenue cutter Patrol at
Chicago, saw service in the polar seas
In a three years cruise aboard the cut
ter Thetis, which ended in October,
1909. His trips took him thousands of
miles, from Cape Attu, the most west
erly point of Uncle Sans dominions,
and one of tiny island group tucked
away almost within the sweep Of the
Asiatic coast, TO 81 degrees north lati-
tude, up beyond Cape Hope and Cape
Barrow, on the northern coast Of Alas
ka. Some day Lieutenant Reinburg is
going to publish the account OF those
three years, in which the Thetis and
her crew represented the United
States and the sovereign law In places
where both are but shadowy tales. He
will tell of ice PACKS miles and miles
a. ~ - ,r,hf oh he FIJI
cutter lay helpless for two weeks. and
of a whaler, which, less fortunate and
less stanch, crushed like an egg and
went down with all hands. He will
tell of cold and hunger-of men found
dead on ice packs and starving natives
herding together by the hundreds; OF
adventures comic and tragic and mar
velous. To a reporter he recounted
some Of his wanderings.
Saw WhaIer Go Down.
I'VE started out OF Frisco" he said,
ito be kone three years. I'VE went
mp along the coast and struck ice in
about So degrees north latitude. There
was a feet of whalers there at the
time and we stood by to help them II
we could. One Of them did crush and
go down without a moments warning
ard the rehgiously inclined said it was
a Judgment of God because the ves-
sells captain had kicked In the head OF
one of the crew few days before. We
ourselves were caught in the ice later,
but after two weeks the ice cracked
during a fog and when the air cleared
we saw a channel opening from us TO
cleaSfater.
"THere is no police or anything of
that Sort up In northern Alaska, you
know, and part of our duty was to
serve all of the warrants that had been
issued by the federal authorities. We
had a couple Of marshals along, and
we would send out firing parties along
the coast whenever we would get trace
of our man. The story OF these trips
would Ali volumes. We also looked out
for Japanese seal poachers, charted
the seas we trayersed, studied the Es-
NO races We ran across, and did
tfNdsand and one things In land
where there were mighty few other
people to do them. Our captain, Capt.
A. J. Henderson, was a mighty man,
with a rule more absolute than that of
many kings. We had federal COM
missioner along, and could give the
men we arrested preliminary hear
ing right on the vessel. Then we
would take them back to Nome or
so&e other port for trial
'SSealing laws are very strictly en-
forced now. as the government has
prohibited the killing of seals entirely,
Cor ten years, and the observance of
them is rigid | really believe that II
would be easier TO kill man here I'm
Chicago and get away with II than to
kill seal away up in the north, a
thousand miles from civilization, and
escape punishment. The government
will spend anything necessary to track
down the culprit.