Seward daily gateway., 1924-01-26
INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY
 0F VIM. ,. COPPERNQLL

w. D. Coppernoll, republican candi
 date for attorney general, has an in
 teresting history, which he gave tc
 Gateway representative this week
 His biography reads like romance
 as he has engaged in all sorts of oc
 cupatlon5 and worked at evervt';inc
 at some time or other in an effort to
 wrest living out of the great West
 Wm. D. Coppernoll was born at
 Canajoharie, N Y. in June 1864. Par.
 ents of very moderate means, he was
 educated in the common schools of
 6lS naJiV9 town and passed examin- ation in the academic grade at the age of fifteen. His parents being un- able to finance college education, secured a position as page and boot black in hotel at Little Falls. N. Y. After six months in that position he secured job with the Union News Company of New York City, acting as news "butcher' or an agent on the New York Central railroad. At the age of nineteen, having saved a few dollars and being desirous of being a disciple of Blackstone, went to the city of Chicago, and secured a posi- tiOn as clerk in the law offices of a prominent firm of attorneys in that city. He then worked as a clerk in the day time, and studied at night In March 1887 he passed a successful examination before the Appellate Court at Chicago and was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Illinois in June, 1887.
 He was married at Chicago in De- cember, 1899. He had two children, Randall, a son born September 20, 1891 and Myrtle, a daughter, born on January 21, 1893 Both children were from Chicago thereto in 1890. His wife died in 1898. He then practiced law in Montana, from 1890 to 1900,, when he removed to Thunder Noun tain where a great stampede was on which later caused the find of gold. This camp was a failure, so he went to Tonopah, Nevada. in 1901; prac- ticed law at Austin, Nev. from 1902 to 1912; represented Lander County, of which Austin was the county seat in the Nevada Assembly, having been elected in 1910.
 Comes To Alaska
 Continuing the account of his stren lous work. Mir. Coppernoll said:
 "In 1912, having placed my child 'en with friends in the east. came o Alaska, where opportunities seem I'd most favorable. I arrived in Ket- ,hikan in September of that year. and with capital of $5.2O, being an en- ire stranger, I went to work steve lOring on the dock, and afterward worked on a box-machine in the saw nill at that place. Then I went to uneau in October 1912. took ob mixing concrete for Senator 'ripp. Then Guy McNaughton, cash er of the Behrends Bank at Juneau ot me job as blacksmith helper at he Chichagoff mines during the lonth of November, 1912. After -orking as such a helper for about lree weeks, Jim Colman of Ktchi- an, who was the head blacksmith, gured that I was too light for this ob, and I was transferred to take harge of the Company store at that lace. In January 1913, having some loney to the good, I went to Juneau here l did some legal work. So ma attorneys were there, and the pick lg was poor. In 1914, having heard bout the opportunities at Seward. r. anne here and in November of 1914. pened an office in the Daggett Block once. l was appointed City At ,rney by the Common Council of Se- ard in 1915; elected City Attorney gain in 1916.
 Tn May, 1918, being requested by ldge Fred M. Brown, I accepted the nited States Commissionership at where I served for six lontns. In January, 1919 I went to |ashington, D. C., for the purpose floating mining deal. While lere for that purpose and as capi- l was not forthcoming, upon re- lest of MT. Ray T. Baker, Director
 the Mint, and who was a friend of inc in the State of Nevada, I went
 work for the United States Ship ng Board, in Washington D. C., and
 thirty days was head of one of the 'partments. The position was in eaning up the war work. Holding is position till May 31, 1920, when resigned in order to return to Alas ( ]. l arrived back in Seward in June 4 20, and practiced law there until c ecember 30, 1921, when at the soli- f tation of Federal Judge E. E. Ritch- h
 1 accepted the United States com a lssionership at Mccarthy, Alaska held that position until October l, 23, when I resigned to resume prac e of law in Seward, where I am now a ted '' f.