Evening star., 1916-11-12

not yet seen a house that could not
be easily broken into and robbed. Mil
lions of dollars worth of gold is an
nually carried out on the steamers that
go down the Tanana and up the Yukon
to White Horse. The present method
of transporting this treasure is an old
fashioned iron safe which has handles
on each side. The safe is left out in
the open under the deck. the handles
being chained to the mast
In the past the gold was kept in a
strong room, and now and then thefts
were attempted One day a sailor ur-
screwed the bars of the room, and got
out box of dust and nuggets worth
$4,000. He had a partner in the crime
The two men tied a rope to the box
and fastened life preserver to the
the box overheard. thinking the life
preserver would act as a float and en-
able them to find the box when they
came back later on. They also marked
with their eye the place where. 1t fell.
AT the next stopping of the steamer
one of the men dropped into the water
and swan to the bank. He went back
up the river and looked for the gold
but could not find 1T. A little later the
officers of the steamer found that the
strongroom had been tampered with,
and that one of the boxes was missing
They caught the criminals and took
them to Fairbanks. They were tried
and sent to the penitentiary. The life
preserver was afterward found by an
Indian. The box of gold is still in tho
Yukon.
X
At another time, about ten wears apo-
a man planned to rob a steamer of one
of the big gold shipments and came
from the outside to do it, He got
job as night watchman on the steamer
and learned just how the gold was
handled. One night lie broke into the
strong room and took out two boxes
each of which contained 100000 in gold
dust. He pried open one of the boxes
and removed $4,000 worth Of the gold
and in its place put about the same
amount of buckshot, which he had pro-
cured at the stores of Fairbanks for
the purpose. He did not buy the shot
himself, but sent some men from the
steamer for it. pretending that he
wanted it for hunting After cIosinr
and fastening the box he carried Il
back and laid it down on the deck be-
side the other box which he had taken
out 1t was lighter than the box which
had nothing but gold, but he expected
strongroom. Before he was able to do
SO. however, two drunken men came
aboard. They stumbled over the gold
chests and realized what thew were
They concluded to steal one. and nick
ed up the lightest in which was the
shot, and dropped 1t over the side of
the vessel Later on they got it out
and buried it in the woods All this
happened that night and while they
were half drunk. After buryine the
gold they went to sleep. The next
morning one of them grew frightened
at what he had done and told the agent
of the steamship company about it. Of
fering to show him where the gold
was. In the meantime the loss had
been discovered by the men on the
steamer. They came ashore and went
with the agent to the woods and found
the box. They opened it and 10, 1t was
two-thirds full Of shot. It was then
remembered that Miller had been buy
ing shot and he was arrested He de-
MED having stolen the gold. but was
convicted and sent to the penitentiary
AT the end of his term he returned to
Fairbanks, where he was carefully
watched. He had evidently hidden the
gold he had taken out of the box, It is
supposed that he succeeded in get
ting 1t out of the country. but to this
day no one knows how it was DONE
Fairbanks has long since become q
settled community, but many of tho
customs Of early mining days are sttn
in enect. One is the habit Of nick
names. There are but few '.misters'
and every ono calls his fellow by his
first name or a nickname. It is John