The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-22
AMERICA WARNED OF JAPANESE MOVE FOR GRIP ON ALASKA;
 TREASURE MUST BE GUARDED

EAOSS auO tueiF IlIty mfLe8 uay naul1nB him and his packs and that is consid. cred traveltng in | the interior of l. ].Aiaska -.@&!pD.YI .::.W ..74sE4a.flt.1t-- 52s5@t4 Wealth in $ Bills '-!1'f. 'S s> "Wada was going outside, as we say up there, headed for Seward. and i had given him some letters to be posted at Seward for transmission to the States. He bade us good-by and set out on the trail for the coast town. Some hours after he had left, my son Otto came to me and showed knap- sack pouch which Wada had left be- hind him under his pillow in the bunk 1 house. I summoned Frank Cannon, | the inn-keeper, and asked his advice , in the matter.
 "cannon thought we should open the pouch and see whether it contained | anything of real value to Wada, so it could be sent after him. In perfect ly good faith, therefore, and only in friendly way, we did open it. We found within to my astonishment, first of all, two-inch-thick packages of $5 i bills, amounting to passibly a couple of thousand dollars.
 q say I was astonished, for no ordi- nary prospector or explorer going out of Alaska ever had such sums, and be- sides I knew that Wada many times, ostensibly at least, had been broke. Secret Agent of Japan
 '1 had known him, during his Alas kan experiences of years, to stow away on ships to get up and down the coast, had known him to go hungry, , had let him money This, therefore. was most significant. But more signi- ficant, and as proof that Japan, through him as well as other eyes, 1 had been covetously regarding Alas 1 ka's riches, were perfectly executed maps and sketches of the most import ant parts of the great mineral belt. i They were no private prospector's maps, They were the kind of maps an expert makes for his government.
 ''Then we knew what Wada was, or at least we were morally convinced. He was a secret agent of the Japan ese government. The maps were cov- cred in spots with writing in not only , Japanese, but in English, written in a beautiful symmetrical hand. You may be sure they are in Tokyo's archives.
 "In the pouch also were my letters which Wada was to post. We had no Federal authorities to consult. We hardly knew what to do and doubt if the full significance of what we found immediately daWned on us. l sent out and got a husky young buck of twenty-five. a strong runner
 q asked the Indian how much he , wanted to take the pack and overtake the Japanese and his sleigh He said $4 would be about right, so I said I'd give him a dollar and he could col lect the rest from Wada when he over hauled him.
 ''The Indian, who had not eaten, he said, in two days, craved food, so filled him with bread and moose meat and soup, of which he partook raven ously.
 "Ha started out down the trail with the pack, running like a gaunt wolf and every bit as easily. He made his start at in the<morning and that In, dian did real Marathon I can tell you, before he overhauled Wada,
 "On the morning of the next day after twenty four hours of running on the meal l had fed him, that tireless buck caught up to Wada just after he had started out with his dog team for 1 his days run. Wada didn't see him he reported to me afterWard, but he i let loose a real war whoop and Wada halted.
 "The Indian turned over his pack got a letter of thanks to be returned : to me, and the buck returned with It at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the second day, having run most of the way back. Wada had given him five whole dollars, and the Indian was wealthy and happy
 "Wada said it would have been a great loss and serious detriment tc him if he had not received the pack He had not missed it, his note read since it was usually strapped on his sleigh.
 Sees Wada Last Time
 "Two years later encountered Wada for the last time. It was at i Susitna Station on Thanksgiving Day I had gone down the river fifty-five