Iditarod pioneer., 1916-06-10
TRAPPER HELD ON MURDER CHARGE
Charles Grover Is in the Local Jail with a Charge of Murder Hang ing Over H;rn-Will Be
 Tried at Ruby Term

A grievance of three years standing. which probably had been aggravated by frequent Quarrels and which may have been magnihed by the constant breeding of men engaged in the solitary occupation of trappers in the wildernesses of the upper kuskokWlm, culminated on May 27 last at McGrath in the death of man named Phil lips and the lodging in the federal Jail at ldtarod of Charles Grover, charged with murder
 Jack Stewart and Al Smith arrived in the city on Saturday evening last, having in custody Charles Grover, who had been bound over to the grand jury by Commis- sioner W. A. Greene of Tokotna, who was at McGrath at the time of the tragedy. As there will be no grand jury called in Iditarod this year. the prisoner will be taken to Ruby, where a grand jury will meet soon. It is possible that the trial of Grover may take place at Fairbanks.
 The two guards and their prisoner made rhe journey from McGrath to Iditarod on foot travelling fourteen hours day, each guard being on watch half the night while the other slept. They experienced no trouble with their prisoner, Mir Stewart saying that it would have been perfectly safe to have allowed the prisoner to make the journey to I,!itarod alone, had he known the trail.
 The two men. Phillips and Grover, were trapperS. Grover, the prisoner is of French Canadian extraction, and a man about B years of age. The victim of the killing was from 45 to 50 years of age an Englishman by birth. and was formerly a sailor. lie had been in the kuskokwim country some seven years. Prior to that time he had lived at Nome.
 According to the story elcted from the guards, on the morning of May ? Grover arrived at McGrath and had commenced the erection of a tent on the river Dank, with the object Cf making stay at that place While Grover Was setting up his tent Phillips crossed from the opposite side of the river in d small boat and landed at the point where Grover was working. There was some conversation between the two men, and something was said by Phillips about settling their differences" Phillips was said to have started toward Grover when the latter reached for his rifle anl the shooting followed. Whether or not Phillips was armed was not known.
 The Prisoners Stcry
 To The Pioneer man Grover said that he had known the deceesed for three years, when he (Grovert first went to the Kus- kokwim He had selected site for his trapping operations, and had built himself a cabin early in the summer of 1913. In burning over the tundra around his home he had started a conhagrat!on which had destroyed his cache, containing his outfit, and had been compelled to leave for Big river, where Arthur Berry has a store, for the purpose of securing a new supply ot food When he returned he found that his cabin had been burned and, as he asserts, all his traps had been thrown in the river. He was satisfied that Phillips had set fire to his cabin during his absence, and had mentioned his convictions to others. l. would appear that Philips resented the in trusion of Grover on territory in which he was engaged in trapping. The cabins of the two men were but mile and a half apart.
 Phillips, he said, became ugly and made threats against him, and he claims to have witnesses who will testify to this. He re lated how on one occasion Phillips came to his cabin at o'clock in the morning, when he was in bed, apparently for the purpose of quarreling with him. They dis cussed their grievances, and although they had breakfast together there was bad blood between them He also had visited Phil lips cabin on numerous occasions.
 On the fatal morning at McGrath, when Phillips crossed the river to accOst him, he had just arrived down the kuskokwim from his winter quarters, and had been without sleep and on short rations. The country along the river was flooded and he had been unable to make landing to prepare food, and he was worn out from fatigue and pri- vation He says that Phillips greeted him with the remark, Come on, and let's settle our differences or words to that effect, Not knowing whether Phillips was armed or not, and as he disregarded his admonition to keep away from him, and kept advancing, he grabbed his rifle and shot. He says that Phillips was a powerful man and had boasted of his prowess as a fighter.
 The prisoner is somewhat reticent as to his antecedents. He says that he was born in Canada, but has been in the United States since boyhood. He will say nothing as to his relatives or where his home IS located. He says he always has been a wanderer.
 Grover speaks with slight accent, and seems possessed of a fair degree of intelli. gence As yet he has not employed counsel to defend him, although he is said to be not without means.
 V6fdjct of Coroner's Jury
 The verdict of the coroner's jury, which was rendered on the day of the tragedy with Commissioner Green acting as coroner, was as follows:
 We, the undersigned jurors summoned