El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-11-11

7 After some days the reply to go
ahead came and the marshal got the
money In the Yukon territory. the
mounted police would have been on the
} Job before the murdered woman grew
. cold, and the arrest would have been
Z made almost Immediately
Erwin has had considerable experience in
canada. having mined gold in the klondikc
before he came here 1 asked him whether
they did not do these things better there
His reply was Characteristic
Yes. they skin US mile. When the
mounted police have no law they make one.
settling small offences out OF court Re
Gently. when the O'Brien murder case wa
m hand. the question turned on some
broken teeth in the dead mans mouth The
corpse had been discovered under the ice
some distance from the mining camp Of
OBrien- The police supposed that the mar,
had been shot in the mouth and his teeth
thus broken Some OF the teeth were lost
camp and found the teeth This convicted
. Brien- That investigation cost tens %
70 spend any amount to get justice
Few bad Men" in Alaska
I went with Marshal Erwin through the
Jail in Fairbanks The criminals are kept
be seen on all sides There were nine in
the cells at the time Of my visit.
l asked the marsha! 10 the crime OF
this part Of Alaska He replied.
The territory is supposed to be full OF
bad men. but that is a mistake The order
here Is much better than in the southern
states, where / was reared You cannot
pick up a Georgia newspaper. even now.
without finding in il = report OF one or
district for II years and during that time
only one man has been killed with pistol.
here are but few people in the country
who carry weapons either openly or con-
oesled- The murders that have beer com
mitted have been with guns, clubs or knives.
During my term OF three years as marshal
mere have been only two murders in my
whole district
People Charitable.
The people are charitable They often
spend $500 or more to send a sick man
away 70 Seattle, and they always give a
little money to keep the man until he gets
on his feet. As an instance OF the Eeneros-
earthquake The news OF il was teIezraphed
Eere one Saturday. There was a meeting !
next day $780, 600 had been collected and |
started on its way 20 the sufferers
month later there was a fire in Fair |
banks and almost the whole town was I
burned The people outside remembered /
what we had done for san Francisco. and .
offers OF help poured IN. They were an ?
We thank you all. but carry our own /
skillet and don't need any help"
Keep Gold in Open. URguarded.
Il IS surprising that there IS not more
crime IN Fairbanks The city is in tho !
heart Of the wiids. and II is surrounded b. /
mining camps that have produced about 4
SS.o0O.Ooe worth Of gold dust and nuggets
At times the banks have been loaded with
gold, and every camp has its bags Of gold
Sold is kept in cans AMI other common re-
,eptacles in the log cabins. and ! have
,ot yet seen house that could not be
.aslly broken into and robbed Millions Of
dollars worth Of gold il annually carried
ut on the steamers that go down the Ia
lsna and up the Yukon to White Horse I
The present method Of TRANSPORTING tbi.
reasure is an oid-fashioned iron safe which
as handles on each side The safe is left
ut in the open under the deck. the handles
'einE chained 20 the mast.
In the past the gold was kept in a strong
DON. and now and then thefJs were at
empted One day =ailor unscrewed the
lars Of the room and got out a box OF
lust and nuggets worth $4,000 He had
partner in She crime.
The two men tied a rope TO the box and
GsIened life preserver to the other end
4 the rope. They then threw the box
verooard. thinking the life preserver
would act as q float and enable them 10
ind the box when they came back later On
hey also marked with their eve the place
where 1t fell At the next stopping Of the
teamer one OF the ner droo1s5 INTO +be
vster and swan TO the bank He went
'ack up the river and looked for the gold
fficers OF the steamer found that the
trongroom had been tempered With. and
hat one OF the boxes was missing. They
aught the criminals and took them 70
aTbanks- They were tried and sent 70 !
he penitentisry- The life preserver was
fterward found by an Indian. The box
gold is still in the Yukon.
Drunken Man Thwarts Robbery.
At another time. about ten years ago
man pldlu=u 70 rod steamer OF OF
he big gold shipments and came from the
inside TO do it He got a job as night
-atchman On tfie steamer and learned Jus:
ow the gold was handled. one night h
roke into the strong room and took out
To boxes each Of which contained $50. 900 !
! gold dust He pried open one Of thu
oxes and removed $40 600 worth Of the
old and IN its place put about the same ,
mount OF buckshot- which he had pro-
ured al the stores OF Fairbanks FOR thu
urDose- He did not buy the shot him !
Elf but sent some men from the steamer
,r Il, pretending that he wanted It for I ,
uniting.
After closing and fastening the box he
arriec II tack and laid il down on the !
eek beside the other box which he had |
aken out II was lighter than the box
-hich had nothing but gold. but he ex-
ected 10 put the two boxes back into the
ron groom Before he was able 70 do 50 .
oWeVer. two drunken men came aboard / ,
hey stumbled over the gold chests and /
allied what they were. They concluded I