The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1914-04-20

morous decisions ever rendered by
a coIrt Of justice VAS written by
Judge Wickersham, now territorial
delegate to congress, in the case
OF Mckinley vs.. Cleary on August
=. 1900, in this city,
The case was one in equity 10
sci aside a bill OF sale of one
fourth interest in what was known
at that tine as the Fairbanks Hotel
the allegation being made that the
document was signed while the plain.
tiff Was under the influence of
in The sale was tn re.ult OF
a long drawn-out gambling game
with dice After reviewing the hui
morous details of the evidence, the
court refused to take any action in
the matter of settling a gambling
dispute
The dec. sion, as rendered by Judge
Wickersham. in part is as follows:
On the Goth of last November the
plaintiff was, and for some time
previous thereto had been. one of
the proprietors of that certain two
story log cabin described in the
pleadings as the Fairbanks Hotel"
situate upon lot !. Front street, in
the town of Fairbanks. Alaska. The
opening scene discovers him drunk
but engaged on his regular night
shift as barkeeper in dispensing
whiskey by leave of this court on
a territorial license to those of his
customers who had not been able,
through undesire or the benumbing
influence OF the liquor, to retire to
their cabins. The defendant was
his present customer After a social
evening session. the evidence is that
at about O'CLOCK IN the morning
of the goth they were mutually en-
jOying the hardships of Alaska by
pouring into their respective inter
Tors unnumbered four-bit drinks,
recklessly expanding undug pokes,
and blowing in the next spring clean
up. While thus employed. between
sticking tabs on the nail and catch
ing their breath for the next glass,
dess of fortune by shaking plain
tiffs dicehOX. The defendant testi-
fies that he had a s. bill, that he
laid il on the bar. and that it con-
ST ututed the visible means OF sup
port to the game and transfer of
property which followed That de-
PENDANT had s. bill so late in the
evening may excite remark among
his acquaintance.
Whether plaintiff and defendant
then formed mental design to
gamble around the storm center of
this bill is one OF the matters in
dispute in this case about which they
do not agree The proprietor is
plaintively positive on his part
that at that moment his brains were
so benumbed by the fumes or the
force of his own whiskey that he
was actually non compos mentis;
that his mental faculties were so
far paralyzed thereby that they ut
terly failed to register or record
impressions His customer, on the
other hand, stoutly swears that the
vieor and strength of his constitu-
ton enabled him to retain his mem
ory and he informed the court from
the witness stand that while both
were gazing at the bill, the proprie-
tor produced his nearby dicebox, and
they began to shake for it's temper
airy ownership. Neither the mem
DRY which failed nor that which la
bored in spite Of its load enabled
either the proprietor or the custom
err to recall that any other money or
its equivalent came upon the board.
The usual custom of $500 million
aires grown from wild cat bonanzas
was followed, and as aces and SKIES
alternated or blurringly trooped ath-
wart their vision the silent upthrust
of the index finger served to mark
the balance of trade.
They were not alone. Upper
Thompson slept bibulously behind the
oil tank stove. Whether his mental
receiver was likewise so hardened
by inebriation as to be incapable
of catching impressions will never
be certainly known to the court.
He testified to a lingering remem-
brance of drinks which he enjoyed
at this time upon the invitation OF
some one, and is authority for the
statement that when he came to the
proprietor was so drunk that he hung
Imply and vne-like to the bar,
though he played dice with the de-
PENDANT, and later signed a bill Of
sale of the premises in dispute,
which Topper witnessed. Upper al
so testified that the defendant was
drunk, but according to his standard
Of intoxication he was not so entirely
paralyzed as the proprietor, since he