Evening star., 1924-10-17
AMERICAN SEIZED,
RED FLAG RAISED
ON WRANGELL ISLE
Charles Wells, With Noice
Expedition, Reported
Taken to Siberia.
PROTEST DISPATCHED
TO STATE DEPARTMENT
Officials Here Think U. S. Explorer
Asked Ship to Take Him
From Island.
Nv tn. Associated Press.

Nv tn. N~~u,iatrd Press.
NOME. Alaska. october IA col
Ouy intended to establish title to
WrangrIl Island. in the Arctic ocean
north of Siberia, WAS carried oil by
the Russian armed transport Red Oc-
1ober. which raised the Russian flag
there August 20, it was learned here
today
This news came here from Whalen,
by which name AlaSkanS call that
T.rt of Siberia extending inland and
iiorth and south from Bering Strait.
The Red October called by Russians
In. KraSny Oktibr. bucked the ice
- days To reach Wraugtll Island, to
which the Coast Guard cutter Bear
and the gasoline SchoonerS Herman
lud silver Wave. thrt" American YES
Sos. tried in vain TO penetrate this
Summ"r.
Herman Finds Bones.
The Herman reached Herald Island.
a. miles cast Of Wrangell Island. and
rnund there homes and relics believed
!" have come from one of two parties
"f four men each that periShed after
1h" karluk. exploration ship of Will
haImur Stcfaus$ou, went down in the
Irc 80 miles north of Herald Island,
january u. i&ll.
Tn" colony carried away by the
Red October is 10 be landed at In
uIan Point. In Whalen. or at Fladi-
N"St"l>, I.u0o miles south, according
10 "dViccS from Whaltn.
This colony. consisting of Is Eski
mos. with Harry Wells of Nome in
charge. was taken to Wrangell Island
by Harold Noicc of Seattle, who found
that an expedition led there in 1921
~ AIau Crawford of Toronto had
p-riShed. with the exception of an
Eskimo seamstrcsS. Ada Blackjack.
Previous reports had spoken of the
Fed octobcr's finding - Eskimos on
the island, but today's advices said
j., which was the number taken
there by Noice.
With the colony, Soviet officials
aboard the Red October confiscated
stores of furs, according to the Wha-
len messages. This consisted of 40
fox ond 40 polar bear skins.
NEW YORK. October 17.-vilhjal-
nur Stefansson, who a year ago
founded the colony on Wrangell
Island which is reported from Nome
10 have been carried off by a Russian
transport, said today that the colony
comprised Is Eskimos and Charles
Wells of Uniontown, IA
The colony was not founded In be-
half of Great Britain, but of the
niteQ states through an american
corporation IN Nome, Mr.. Stefansson
declared.
This situation is up to the United
States" he said.
The Russian claim to WranEells Is
sand is so weak as to be negligible from
the historical or legal point of view
Mr.. Stefansson continued. No Russian n
ever saw Wraneell Island as far as we
know until 1911. That was So years
D.. 81. II.
years after the United States steamships
Eorvtn and Rogers planted the United
States flag there i'll behalf of their Gov
ernment."
The explorer pointed out that he was
81 Canadian by birth and a longtime
resident of the United States. All his
work on the island had been in behalf
of these two countries, and he was con-
WINGED from his historical studies that
Great Britain and the United States
were the only nations that had a claim
to the island.
Fails to Impress Governments.
For two years / sought to impress
the British government with the need
for coloniZing Wrangeu as a future
base for intercontinental dirigible
and airplane traffic, well as a
valuable immediate commercial as
set, especially for furs and reindeer
breeding, walrus hunting and seal
ing said Stefansson.
But the British and Canadian gov
crnments, although recognizing their
claim to the island by right of dis
Covery and eXplora ton, could not see
my plans for colonization. So IA year
ago I transferred my personal interest
TO the American corporation in Nome
and supervised colonization of the
island under the leadership of the
man from Pennsylva