Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1911-01-27

States naval service in which men
and officers alike undergo wild ad-
ventures, see strange sights and
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,
their lives are filled with the romance
and the 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 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
eriy point Of Uncle Sans dominions,
and one of a tiny island group tucked
away almost within the sweep of the
Asiatic coast. to 81 degrees north lati-
tuae. up beyond Cape Hope and Cape
Barrow, on the northern coast of Alas
Ia. 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
ELL tell of ice packs miles and miles
In extent. In one of which the powerful
cutter lay helpless for two weeks, and
Of 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.
We started out of Frisco" he said,
to be some three years. We went
up along the coast and struck ice in
about So degrees north latitude. There
was feet Of whalers there at the
ume and We stood by to help them II
We could. One of them did crush and
90 down without a moments warning
and the religiously inclined said IT was
Judgment of God because the ves-
sells captain had kicked in the head of
one OF the crew a few days before. We
ourselves were caught In the ice later,
but after two weeks the ice cracked
curing fog and when the air cleared
We saw a channel opening from us to
clear water.
There is no police or anything of
mat 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
mad couple Of marshals along, and
We would send out firing parties along
me coast whenever We would get trace
Oh our man. The story of these trips
would I'LL volumes. We also looked out
tor Japanese seal poachers, charted
tne seas we traversed. studied the Es-
himo races We ran across, and did a
thousand and one things in land
"nere there were mighty few other
people to do them. Our captain. Can't.
q :. Henderson. was a mighty man.
with rule more absolute than that of
many kings. We had a 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
some other port for trial.
sealing laws are very strictly en-
iorced now, as the government has
prohibited the killing of seals entirely
ior ten years. and the observance of
.nem Is rigid. | really believe that II
would be easier TO kill a man here In
cnicago and get away with it than to
All seal away up In the north. a
thousand miles from civilization. and
escape punishment The government
WI spend anything necessary to track
Gown the culprit