USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 41
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
The conduct of his wives so unsettled the mind of Do-ce-wallops that he be-
315
316
OREGON NATIVE SON.
gan to persecute his people and often killed them. At last he contemplated their extermination and was making preparation to that end when the Great Spirit stepped in and became the arbi- trator of the family destiny.
To each he decreed their fate; Ta-lio- ma being the first to feel his power. In disposing of her he purposed to place before others that were wives a warning --- one that would always be in view, a simile of what jealousy would bring to them.
By will and wave of hand tlie spot where a woman stood no longer knew her form, for high towards the dome of blue, as if its peak were lifted to kiss the stars, Ta-ho-ma, once a maid so beauti- ful, became a mountain grand. Around her form he wrapped a mantle white and cold; ever keeping the fire of jealousy within from bursting forth to harm as she had done before. As the transformation took place, the brooklets she had caused to lend song to the meadows through which they ran, ceased to flow and la- mentation was great upon the earth, to appease which. the Great Spirit touched Ta-ho-ma's higher elevation, when, as if a fair one with water jars in arm, lakes were formed from which comes down the mountain's side the many streams that
feed the verdure in the valleys below. From this, the meaning of Ta-ho-ma has been since known as "nourishing breast."
The valley that had ceased to be a paradise was made to sink below the ad- jacent lands, and in its fall its sides were left abrupt, indented and at times pierced with fissures extending far away. Over this once smiling scope of country rushed the ceaseless ebb and flood of ocean's tide to ever hide its face. As the Great Spirit wrought these changes, Do- ce-wallops, together with Met-la-ko and her son, fled to the north. As Met-la-ko grew tired through the weight of tl- salmon she could not leave behind, she threw them into the streams and canals putting into the newly-made sound, and there today can be caught each species, and that only from the waters where she deposited them. At last her fate overtook her, her snow-capped monument being now known as Mt. Solomon. Hard by. as mute as the granite into which he became changed, stands her son, and. although crested with white, is not much of an eminence. Do-ce-wallops is of still less height, and so because he was so insignificant when a man was needed to quell the rising of a storm caused by a couple of women given to quarreling.
F. H. SAYLOR.
AN UNPUBLISHED LETTER WRITTEN BY GENERAL SHERIDAN.
Headquarters Military Div. of the Gulf, New Orleans, January 15, 1866. My Dear Nesmith:
I send by mail today a map of the opera- tions of the country under my command in Virginia. It will give you the clearest idea of the amount of work which I did in the suppression of the Rebellion. I have also nearly completed the maps of the infantry operations in the Shenandoah valley, which I will send to you if you will be kind enough to accept. There was ro general officer in the war who was subjected to as many tests as myself. Sometimes I was commanding infantry and sometimes cavalry, sometimes both together-then I was constantly chang- ing from one line of operations to another, and each time I had to take strange troops and had to overcome local prejudices. Then
I had to study new lines of operations and a new country, but with all this I do not be- lieve that I missed a single point. I asked no one to help me but my legitimate super- iors. I never made a fuss over what I ac- complished, in fact I took up the idea that it was my duty to be successfuland more, that, General Grant expected me to do. I subjected every one under me to these conditions and it made them good soldiers. I issued no con- gratulatory orders. I stimulated no fuss or feather courage, but I gave officers and men decisive victories, so complete that the humblest private saw and knew it. If my course has pleased you, I will fell very grate- ful as I feel very proud of our old friendship. I wrote you some time ago in reply to your Cottage Grove letter. Did you get it?
My regards to Mrs. Nesmith and your fam- ily. Very truly yours,
SHERIDAN.
ROBBERY OF THE GREAT ALASKAN EXPRESS COMPANY. A TALE OF THE KLONDIKE.
You need not look in the Financial Gazette to find the history and standing of the company, for its name is not there. So far as the history of its organ- ization is material to this narrative a brief summary will suffice. Its incorpo- rators were Phillip Unger, William Laurens and Xenas Marshon. It was organized on the 14th day of February, 1898, and voluntarily closed its business life on April 2d of the same year. Hav- ing its principal office and place of bus- iness at Dyea, its prospective connec- tions were intended to ramify the vast territory of Alaska. As one of its pro- moters graphically put it, "Lynn canal is our arm, and the outspread fingers of the hand, touching at Copper river, St. Michaels, Kotzebue sound, Circle City and Dawson, bring the greatset gold- producing country in the world within the easy grasp of our corporation, and will enable us to control the express bus- iness of Alaska and Northwest Terri- tory."
Although at this time money order of- fices had been established at Dyea and Skagway. they were without the neces- sary books and papers to assume those functions: for weeks both postoffices were even without facilities for trans- mitting money or other valuables by registered mail; and as there was no bank or other monetary institution in Dyea, on the day the company opened its doors for business its office at the corner of First and Main streets was thronged by men eager to send money to the States. In view of these condi- tions. the company immediately inaugu- rated a daily service between Dyea and Skagway, and by means of the numer- ous steamers arriving and departing, connecting as often as demands justi- fied with Portland and the Sound. The growth of its business was phenomenal. This is not so surprising when the un- usual conditions are understood. It must be remembered that the town was less than a year old, with a population of over three thousand energetic men
gathered from every state in the Union, besides being the postoffice and trading point for twelve to fifteen thousand more that were encamped at various stages of progress along the trail between Dyea and Chilkoot Pass.
The company officials made no effort to obtain the transportation of large sums of money; indeed, they informed those who presented such sums for ship- ment that the company was an infant, without insurance or commercial stand- ing, and that they must put their trust in the integrity and vigilance of three men. This at first had the effect to turn away considerable sums, but it was evi- dently the most effective means they could have adopted to create public con- fidence, and lav the basis for the mar- velous growth of business later on, out of which arose the singular fatality which overtook the company a few weeks later.
The building occupied by the ex- press company was a small, one-story frame, divided by a partition into front and rear rooms, the front room being still further divided by a counter pierced by a wicket gate through which the officers and employes entered. Off one end of the small lobby in front was a telephone closet, access to which was had by a door on the inner side of the gate. There were two employees, a young man and a young woman stenog- rapher, who acted as assistant book- keeper.
During the afternoon of March -, two rough-looking men in miner's cos- tume came into the office of the Great Alaskan Express Company, and, stating that they had just arrived from Daw- son, inquired the rates to Portland on seventy-five pounds of gold dust. This was a much larger sum than had yet been handled, and they were so in- formed, as well as all other facts con- cerning the company, and that until it had better facilities for guarding and expressing such large sums it should ap- ply the practically prohibitive rate of
317
318
OREGON NATIVE SON.
three per cent. The miners replied thiat they had already satisfied themselves as to the standing of the company, and as one had to go to Pyramid Harbor while his partner wished to stop at the Sound, they were content to dispose of it in that way; in short, no other course was open to them. The terms were en- tirely satisfactory.
The precious nuggets were contained in two moose-skin sacks wrapped in double thicknesses of canvas, securely sewed and carefully scaled. Re- ceipts were given in duplicate, provid- ing for the delivery of the gold dust only to the two parties in the presence of each other and upon the presentation of the two receipts, or to one party who, being properly identified. should present his partner's receipt duly endorsed and authenticated. Three per cent. on the estimated value of $13.000, or $390, was then paid, and the two men departed.
It was impossible to convey this large quantity of gold dust on board any steamer in Skagway that night. The de- plorable conditions of communication between the two towns required about six hours to make the round trip empty- handed, while the precautions necessary to guard so much unconcealable value increased the difficulties and hazard ten- fold. The only safe the company had was a small skeleton affair that would not have withstood very long the blows of an ordinary hammer. When Unger and Laurens learned that Marshon had received so large a sumi they were amazed, and although naturally elated with this unusual mark of confidence in the company, the tremendous responsi- bilities involved. in view of the surround- ings, deprived them of all the pleasure they would otherwise have had. The conservative Laurens, whose suggestion it was that the transportation of large values should be discouraged until the company had more firmly established it- self and secured better self-protection. was outspoken in his regret at having to share so great a responsibility. Un- ger's reply was profoundly characteris- tic:
"The man who can hustle -- the world is his oyster. We have been doing the
hustle act in Alaska, and we are suç- ceeding. We have the confidence of the people-the business is ours."
"That's right," exclaimed Marshon; "I have been asked two or three times today if there was stock for sale in this company."
"Not a dollar; it's a close corpora- tion," replied the enthusiastic president.
"A happy kettle of fish," retorted Laurens, "but it doesn't guard gold coin. And yon know it is hardly to be expected that nearly a hundred pounds of gold dust can be landed here from Dawson without the whole community hearing of it."
"I suppose the old man thinks we ought to sit up with it all night," re- marked Marshon to Unger.
"Yes, that is exactly what I mean. I do not intend to lose sight of it until daylight tomorrow morning.'
"A wise precaution, I think," Unger said, "in view of our situation.'
Reports of murder and robbery in Skagway were of daily occurrence, though grossly exaggerated, doubt and it was known that a large number of gamblers of all kinds, with their contingent of cappers-altogether making up the toughest, most villianous aggregation n of that kind that ever cursed a mining camp-had followed the tide of Yukoners who retreated from the White Passs to the Chilkoot with the breaking up of the former on the ap- proach of spring. These facts were not forgotten as the long night wore away while the three men kept their lonely vigil. About 2 o'clock A. M. two pistol shots rang out above the roar of the gale which had sprung up shortly before midnight, and Sam Roberts, proprietor of a gambling game in the Wonder ho- tel, lay dead at the entrance to his cabin within a hundred feet of the express of- fice.
Morning dawned dark and cloudy. with an off-shore wind blowing which made embarking or landing on the beach difficult and dangerous. Several smaller sums of money had been depos- ited in the office subsequent to the re- ceipt of the gold dust, swelling the amount to nearly $15.000, and the offi-
-
T
319
ROBBERY GREAT ALASKAN EXPRESS COMPANY.
cers of the company were anxious to ship it away as soon as possible. Owing to lack of wharfage facilities at Dyea, all steamers landed at Skagway. from and to which point all Dyea passengers and freight were transferred by means of lighters and small boats. After waiting until noon for the wind to abate. it was decided that Marshon and Hubbard (the latter the regular messenger) should try to reach Skagway on one of the larger
with the office. but. for some reason she could not understand. Laurens thereup- on called Skagway, but elicited only the fact that the line was in bad order. and the repairer was ordered out early in the morning to locate and re- pair the trouble.
Another hour of anxious waiting passed. Miss Merritt had gone home, and there seemed to be fewer interrup- tions than usual so early in the evening.
DYEA, ALASKA.
ferry steamers by way of the D. K. T. Co.'s dock. Accordingly, as soon as ar- rangements could be made. they depart- ed, Marshon promising to report by tele- phone as soon as they should have made safe delivery of his valuable cargo.
The day at the office was a busy one, and the afternoon wore rapidly away without any unusual anxiety. for Mar- shon and Hubbard were exceptionally brave and cautious men, not easily dis- concerted by any unexpected difficulty or disaster. until 7 o'clock. when Unger and Laurens returned from dinner. Miss Merritt reported that during their ab- sence an attempt had been made by some one in Skagway to communicate
They were talking over the business of the day, and planning for its rapid in- crease, when a faint tinkle of the bell caused Unger to spring to the telephone. It was several minutes before he re- joined his partner in the rear office.
"Word from the boys?" asked Lau- rens, without looking up from the book he was working on.
"Yes," answered Unger, in such a strange, unnatural voice, that Laurens looked up quickly and was startled at the other's look.
"In Heaven's name. Unger, what has happened? You have heard bad news from Marshon?"
"Abont Marshon, yes."
சழ்
320
OREGON NATIVE SON.
"What is it? He hasn't been-" Lau- rens could not say the ward, though he was prepared for it by what he saw in Unger's eyes.
"Yes
that . robbed; but worse than
murdered!" groaned Unger.
"Murdered! Marshon murdered and robbed in broad daylight? Impossible He and Hubbard would never be caught napping."
'So it seems to me; but you forget that it has been dark for over two hours. Some one, whose name I could not un- derstand, said that Marshon and Hub- bard had been sand-bagged and robbed somewhere in the bay, and the robbers were suppose to have escaped with their plunder on the City of Seattle.
"Well, what else? Surely that is not all? I thought you were having a long conversation.'
"So we were, but it is difficult to gath- er up the fragments, the line is so out of order. I had to piece together broken sentences and repetitions."
"And you didn't misunderstand?"
"I wish I could think I did; but that part was much too clear, 'Robbed and sand-bagged in the bay': these words were burned into my brain. There was much more I could not understand. I was about to call you to the 'phone, when all at once the voice died away as though the line was broken."
"Very strange," mused Laurens, "that it should fail us at this most critical time. It is not merely the suspense, but the difficulty of working in the dark."
"You know how badly the line has been working all the afternoon. Prob- ably a tree has been blown across the wire and grounded it.'
"Suppose we try it again." suggested Laurens: "sometimes these interruptions are temporary.'
They went to the telephone and rang again and again, waiting and listening with a fluttering hope: but in vain; the line was undoubtedly broken.
The shortest distance between Dyea and Skagway. which is practically the route taken by the telephone line, is less than four miles; but it leads over a high rocky promontory so difficult of access and travel that it requires from six to
ten hours to cross either way in favor- able weather. The telephone wire is strung to the green and dead timber through which it runs the entire dis- tance; so it was no unusual thing for the terrific gales of the region to inter- rupt communication.
"Are there any steamers in port?" asked Laurens.
"Yes; I learned today that the Clara Nevada and the Islander are in and will leave down in the morning, and the Or- egon is due. The City of Seattle was to have left this evening. There may be others."
"Supposing the robbers got away on the City of Seattle or any other steamer this evening, would it be possible for one leaving tomorrow morning to reach Nanaimo in time to telegraph their ar- rest at Victoria or Port Townsend?"
"Yes," replied Unger; "that is barely possible; it is a good suggestion, at all events. The great difficulty is, we have no particulars of the robbery, no de- scription of the supposed thieves."
"Still, something must be done, and done quickly. We ought to learn some- thing about it as soon as we reach Skag- way. What do you suggest?"
The result of their consultation was that, as it was impossible to reach Skag- way that night, they should both obtain needed sleep, and go over in the morn- ing by the earliest possible means, Un- ger to prosecute investigations in Skag- way, obtain possible clews to the crim- inals, by what vessels the treasure could have been spirited away, as well as any other information regarding it, after which further action would be in accord- ance with that knowledge. That so much of this as could be learned before Laurens' departure should be imparted to him, he then to go south on the first steamer to try to intercept the robbers bby a telegram at Victoria or any other point at which they should undertake to debark. This appeared to be a feasible plan, in fact, the only one that promised success.
Meanwhile the wind changed and the following morning a furious landward gale was rolling huge breakers high up the beach, so that no landings could be
321
ROBBERY GREAT ALASKAN EXPRESS COMPANY.
made. The telephone was still useless, and Unger and Laurens saw that their only chance to reach Skagway was by way of the dock two miles below; even there they might not secure immediate passage, for during the long winter seas- on it was no infrequent thing for actual communication between the two towns to be interrupted for days at a time.
It was barely light when they crossed the tideflat and climbed the long incline to the way that had been blasted out of the rock and cut through the dense growth of timber on the mountain-side -by courtesy called a road. Soon the wind's roar and the surging of the waves and tide died away to a half-audible mur- mur. All around was mystic silence, broken only now and then when the hurrying travelers passed some narrow defile that had torn asunder the dark spruce blanket opening the passage-way to the white peaks above, down which rolled faint echoes of the great organ chant that was being played above tim- ber line.
In half an hour they were impatiently pacing the dock, watching the smoke of some small craft just appearing around the headland two miles away. Those were anxious hours of waiting. Innu- merable doubts that would not have arisen on any ordinary occasion assailed them as they watched, with straining eyes, every movement of the little vessel as she rose and fell on the waves. In twenty minutes she was within 200 yards, when she suddenly veered round until she headed directly up the bay, Was it possible she was going to land her passengers on the beach? In vain they shouted; their voices were extin- guished like match-flames in the gale. Ah, she turns -- she rolls in the trough of the sea -- an instant more, and then she comes plunging down in the teeth of the wind, and in a few moments the Alert is alongside the dock.
During the passage across the bay Unger interviewed the Captain as to the arrival and departure of steamers during the past twenty-four hours, and the im- portant information 'gained on that point may be summarized as follows: The City of Seattle left for the Sound at
6 o'clock that morning, instead of at 10 the evening before; the Oregon of Port- land had just arrived, having been de- layed by an accident at Juneau; the Clara Nevada was getting ready to leave at once; the Islander would not go be- fore afternoon, while the Pakshan left for Victoria about midnight.
There was very little time for Laurens and Unger to talk over these facts or devise new plans of action; but it was decided that the plan heretofore out- lined should be carried out as nearly as possible, Laurens hoping to overtake the City of Seattle before she left Juneau, as all steamers usually remained there several hours on their return trips. With this understanding the two friends part- ed. Unger hastening up the long dock, while Laurens turned his attention to se- curing passage on the Clara Nevada.
Just at this moment another steamer, which had been lying unobserved in the upper part of Dyea harbor under the lee of the western range, hove to at Moore's wharf just below the Alert's float. This was the Wolcott, a steamer making tri- weekly trips between Juneau and the head of Lynn canal. The Humbolt, of San Francisco, was also lying at an ad- jacent dock; and before night there might be two or three more.
Proceeding directly to the office of the Dyea Telephone Co., Unger asked the clerk in charge of it at the drug store, in the back room of which its office was, what the latest developments were in the express robbery. The clerk, with a surprised look, answered :
"We haven't heard of any robbery here."
"Such a report was telephoned to Dyea about 8 o'clock last night."
"This is the first I have heard of it," replied the clerk.
Can you tell me who used the tele- phone yesterday evening at that hour?"
"No, I have no idea. Two or three parties came in to telephone to Dyea, but that is of such frequent occurence, and the store being full of customers and others talking over the latest Cuban reports, that no attention was paid to the telephone communications.
(3)
322
OREGON NATIVE SON.
Unger was about to leave when the clerk stopped him .
"Wait a moment," he said, meditative- ly; "I do recall that one party came in and asked to have the door closed while he telephoned, and when he came out he seemed much annoyed by the way the 'phone was working."
"But you cannot remember who it was?"
"No; I gave it too little attention."
Unger then hastened to the office of the city marshal, the only peace officer of the town, and proceeded to interview him, and was still further surprised to find that he had not been informed of it. As he seemed to be following a blind trail he concluded to lay all the facts within his knowledge before the office .. The first question the marshal asked was:
"Who was the party that telephoned to you?"
If a positive answer could be given to this question it would obviously sim- plify the investigation, but Unger could not give a definite answer. He was sure it was not Marshon or Hubbard; yet who could have been interested in giv- ing such important information to the company without notifying either the marshal or some one else in Skagway.
"One of the gang, perhaps," suggest- ed the marshal.
"I don't see how that could be. For what reason?"
"Several. Fear of inability to escape might lead them to prefer the expected reward with immunity from arrest."
"That seems weak," said Unger.
"True; but these seemingly insignifi- cant details are the most perplexing things we have to reckon with in such cases. Another reason might be to mis- lead you. You were informed, you say, that they were supposed to have fled on the City of Seattle. Aside from the doubt that arises that they wiuld tell you the truth, why should they wait until 6 o'clock this morning, when the Pakshan sails ten hours earlier. and makes no stop until she reaches Victoria? She is bound to get there first. besides landing them on alien soil."
"That is more plausible ".
"I think so myself," replied the mar- shal; 'but the moment you adopt that theory you are forced to consider other possibilities. For instance, a small sail boat, suspected of being a whiskey- sinuggler, after lying in t he harbor un- der the surveillance of the U. S. local in- spectors for three days, ostensibly left for Haines' Mission this morning with three or four passengers, two of whom are known to be notorious gamblers. The fact of their leaving in the face of such desperate weather is in itself sus- picious; on the other hand there is so much excitemfent in regard to the build- ing of a railroad there that it seems to afford a sufficient motive."
"Did they take any baggage?"
"Yes, they took on boxes and sacks from a skiff."
"From which dock were their goods landed or taken?"
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.