The ALASKA
SOV'RVOVGH
Vol. L No. 12
Douglas, Alaska, Tuesday, November 21, 1911
10c a Copy
DOUGLAS INDIAN MAY INHERIT $300,000.00
The will or Charles Green was tiled
in Commissioner Winn's court last week
This is the first step in litigation which
may result in securing a fortune of
$300,000 for a Douglas half breed child
now living in a cabin in the Douglas
Indian village.
The story of Charles Green is one in
stance of that truth which is stranger
than fiction. A third of a century ago,
Charles Green was the owner of a plan
ning mill at Portland. He had been a
resident of Portland for a number of
years and had accumulated a fortune
there. A Douglas business man, who
believes that he knows, says that the
estate of Charles Green, in Portland
will amount to not less than $300,000
and possibly to half a million. There
is at least very little question but that
he accumulated considerable property.
Sometime in the early eighties, Green
quarreled wTith his relatives in Portland.
Just vrhat the nature of that quarrel
was, or what relatives were involved,
nobody in Alaska knows. Subsequent
ly events show that the estrangement
caused by the quarrel, the bitterness
engendered by it, seared the heart of
Charles Green, drove him from civiliza
tion to the wilderness, and changed a
man of affairs to a rough pioneer.
Charles Green was not a talkative
man. During his more than a quarter
of a century in Alaska, he never made
any man his confident, but Green at
least once admitted to a man wrho had
known him in Portland that he had
quarreled with relatives, but very
clearly indicated that he had no desire
to discuss the cause of the quarrel.
Soon after his arrival on the Gastin
eau channel, Green built a curious water
craft, which was probably more of a
scow than anything else, and w'hieh has
been discribed by a man who was sev
eral times aboard the boat as much like
a Chinese sampan in some respects.
On board he had a stationary engine
which ran the vessel, and with which
he also used in logging. Soon after
building this boat he persuaded a young
Indian girl to accompany him on hi»
trips for logs. This being called to the
attention of the authorities, the girl
was taken away from him, and sent to
school. Subsequently he went to the
authorities and expressed a desire to
marry the girl. To this the authorities
consented, and the ceremony was per
formed.
The young Indian woman did a man’s
wo\k in the woods wdien the Green fam
ily went after logs, doing the hardest,
and roughest work cheerfully. She
could run the engine when the boat
was under way, could steer the odd,
ungainly craft, and do her full share
of the work of the domestic firm.
Green took up a homestead on Admir
al!.. is1 d, and built a saw t ;; 11, r«
He als i n • • am ti - saw mill at Doug
las, which row the property of Ab
ner Mu. *y In i t. mcantim*’, the In
dian woman had borne Green three
children, one of whom died while Green
lived on Douglas island.
Some time after the Douglas iwPmd
mill was built, Green and l is wife quar
reled frequently and severely, just as
she could hold her own in the work
with him in the woods, on the boat and
in the mill, she could hold her own in
the family jars. Indeed, according to
the stories told by Green, she usually
had the best of these encounters.
Finally, about three years ago, Green
sold his Douglas island mill to Abner
Murray. According to an affidavit
which Green afterwards made, the mon
ey was paid over in the presence of
Mrs. Green, and the money was piled
on the table by Mr. Murray, where,
says Green in his affidavit, the children
played with it.
Not long after the sale of the mill,
Green went to Vancouver for medical
treatment for injuries due, Green said,
to a blow on the solar plexus administ
ered by Mrs. Green. The sale took
place in the fall, and Green was gone
to Vancouver about two months. In
the meantime, Mrs. Green occupied the
mill office, where the family had been
living at the time of the sale, the re
tention of the office until spring having
been provided for at the time of the
sale. When Green returned from Van
couver, i)3 went to the butcher shop,
and purchased a large quantity of pork
chops, which he carried to the family
residence as a peace offering. On his
arrival there, Mrs. Green was out, and
he proceeded to fry the chops, and have
the peace offering ready for delivery
on the arrival of the family.
But the pork chops failed utterly.
It was a tragic and pathetic tale which
Green told of his failure to propitiate
his household gods with the pork chops.
He was glad, however, to escape with
out the necessity of again securing med
ical services.
Soon after this effort to make peaee,
Green left the country. He did not,
however, so far as known, return to
Portland. He became a wanderer, and
it is understood visited many countries
of the old world. Nothing definite was
heard from him, however, until last
summer when the news came that he
had died, friendless and alone, in Yoko
hama, Japan.
In the spring, following the sale, Ab
ner Murray notified Mrs. Green that
he would want the mill office in thirty
days, and started work in the mill, get
ting things in shape to start it up. War
was declared at once, and for some
weeks, the owner of the Douglas water
works led a strenuous existence. Mur
ray still preserves two vicious looking
clubs which were aimed at his head,
and which he captured in skirmishes.
In the contest, Mrs. Green had the
sympathy and assistance of her tribe,
and Indians guarded tne mill a good
deal of the time. Finally the courts
were appealed to, Mrs. Green holding
that the conveyance of the mill was in
valid on the grounds that her signa
ture was not attached to the instrument.
Under the laws of Alaska, however, the
signature of a wife is not required in
the sale of property by a husband, nor
the signature of a husband in the sale
of property by a wife, and the case was
finally thrown out of court by Judge
Gunnison.
After the final rupture between Green
and his wife, he went to a friend of his
in Douglas, and made a definite offer
of several thousand dollars if he would
persuade the woman to give up the child
ren. This the woman refused to do. It
was probably about this time that
Green had a will drawn by J. H. Cobb.
According to the terms of the will.
Green left all his property to his two
children, one of whom has died since
the will was made. Especial reference
is made to funds deposited with the
Cleveland Trust company, of Cleveland,
Ohio. Kicliard Johnson wTas named as
executor in the will, but as Johnson is
now dead, Attorney Cobb has asked
for the appointment of P. H. Fox.
THE PRICE OF A TOWNSITE SURVEY
Probably about December 15, there
will be a hearing in Wrangel which will
determine the amount of compensation
to which the firm of Whitfields are en
titled for surveying the townsite of
that thriving village.
For many years the contest has been
pending in the United States land of
fice. The Whitfield brothers made a
claim for $11,000 for their services in
running the lines which transferred
Wrangel from a steamer landing into a
city. The Wrangel lot holders have
strenuously resisted the taxing against
them of this sum, and have contended
that $2,000 would be much nearer the
right figure. A year or two ago, the
matter was heard by a special investi
gator sent out by the general land of
fice, and this official recommended the
sum of $3,000 as full pay for the engi
neers. The engineers took the matter
up before the commissioner of the gen
eral land office, and that official propos
ed a compromise at $5,000. This figure
was regarded as far too low by the sur
veyors, and their motion for a rehear
ing has been granted. Special Agent
Lewis will attend the hearing, and prob
ably take a notary with him from Ju
neau, as both the commissioner and the
notary at Wrangel are witnesses in the
case.
Part of the trouble is said to have
been due to the fact that the township
trustees caused too much land to be
surveyed. He probably was a little too
enthusiastic about the immediate future
of the town, and had some land cut
into lots that will probably remain i»
the woods for some years to come.
ALASKA’S GROWING TRADE
During the first eight months of 1911
the value of the commodities shipped
out of Alaska exceeded the amount ship
ped out during the same period of 39’
by nearly three hundred per cent. The
total value of all commodities shipped
out during the first eight months of last
year was $1,520,351 and during the first
eight months of 1911, $3 373,594.
'These gains were ma-D by ilie in
re:-t-rs of production of copper ore, can
t n-id salmon and all fish products, ar>4
gypsvm. The eighc months product in
canned salmon increae * i from $5,58,$13
in 1910 to $1,490,197 in 1911. The
greatest percentage of increase was in
copper ore, which increased from $o4,
CrZ?,. in 1910 to $1,402,.‘>00 1911.
\vlalebone and animal oil fell off one
half, while the value of hides shipped
•tut. ow'ing to the change in the game
law, fell of at an even heavier rate of
loss. The amount of gypsum shipped
out in August 1910 amounted to $2,125
while for the same month in 1911 it
reached $12 500.
For the eight months compared the
shipments into Alaska fell off nearly
a quarter of a million, the imports in
to Alaska from the United States be
ing only $11,099,968 for the eight
(Continued on Page 8)
NO DELAY IN HOMESTEAD PATENTS
In a speech recently delivered to an
eastern audience Ex-Uov. Brady stated
that the failure to receive patents to
homesteads in Alaska, was one of this
territory’s greatest grievances.
The ex-gov. was in error. There nev
er has been any cause for complaint in
Alaska, in the matter of delay in the
issuance of patents to homesteads. The
records in the land office at Juneau
show that there are but six claims
awaiting patent and of these cases,
not one of them has been ready for pat
ent longer than six or seven months.
This application is that of Henry Andes,
of Haines. The other applicants, who
have completed their proofs are Louis
Lund and D. W. Burridge, of Juneau,
and H. E. Revelle, D. C. Brownell, and
James Gerwood, of Seward. There are,
of course, other applications for patent
pending, but these only have completed
their proofs. Homestead patents were
recently granted to W. H. Merritt and
James Anway, of Haines and Fred
Laubner of Seward.
About 200 mining claims are pend
ing for patent in the Juneau iand of
fice. Under the law, eight months
must elapse after advertisement be
fore patent can be issued, and there
are only a few patents pending in
claims where the period has expired,
and it is probable that patents will be
ued on these before the first of the
year.
SOME THLINGET JURISPRUDENCE
Here is a story, found the other day
in the office eopy booh oc Gov. James
Slienkley, which throws light on some
peculiar Indian customs which were
practiced up to a comparatively recent
date.
The story is entitled ‘‘Tblinget Jur
isprudence.” It is as follows:
Forty years ago a fight took place
over at Hootz-noo-oo, a town in Alaska
known to the white people as Killis
noo. The Indian name means brown
bear fort. The fight occured between
the two differing families of the tribe
of native living at Hootz-noo-oo.
In the melee a woman was killed.
This woman, named Kan-sted-sick, was
an aunt of Klantech, a sub chief of the
Klak-wan-tans of Sitka. Klantech was
then a young man, but at this date is
well known in Sitka, and a man of con
siderable years.
According to the Indian customs, a
demand was made by Klantech, of the
Klak-wan-tan clan of Sitka for pay for
the life of the woman, either in blank
ets or by the life of one of the Hoot
noo-noo elan who had caused her death.
They compromised bv giving .a ' n
tech a slave by the "arrie of T 'iow
whom Klan tech prized very hiprh’ as
Ea-how was a strong young fellow of
less than 25 years.
In those days, male slaves of
great value, as they v re only ' lin
ed by war and stealing fr en
tribes. This prtienlar ■' w*s ii
dah, a tribe inhabiti ■ - the s ern
part of Prince of Wah island.
(Continued on 81