THE
McCarthy weekly news
Entered as second class matter. Septem
ber 17th, 1948. at the lost Office, at
McCarthy, Alaska, under the Act of
March 3. 1879.
C. F. M. COLE. Manager
M. M. COLE Editor
Subscription Rates
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Three Months 1 .25
Six Months 2 .50
One Year 5 .00
Payable In Advance
Saturday J uly22nd 1922.
The 1922 Alaska tourist crop
is now at its best and each
steamer coming north is filled
to its fullest capacity by those
who wish to look at our fair
shores and motor over our good
trails. ’ The Alaska Road Com
mission has a large force of men
keeping the Richardson High
way in the pink of condition for
that pur pose, and there is no
doubt but Alaska’s praises will
be sung by the tourists.
We are mighty glad to see the
tourists, but they only stay a
few days, then go on their way
Alaska is just an episode to them
It is not so with the prospector
who spends his life here toiling
over dreadful trails and streams
to develop his prospects which
will ultimately become the great
wealth of the Territory: the Bon
anza, Mother Lode,, and Green
Butte were all prospects once.
Fortunately the prospectbr is
tough and can stand it, and when
the present generation wears
out, other hardy ones will grow
up, maybe. The hills,of
course, can watch and wait
for ever.
JAMES KINGSTON FROZEN
N. N
TO DEATH LAST WINTER
A recekt issue of the Dawson
News says that T. H. Burnam,
a trader at Fort Yukon has writ
ten a letter to John Black, pub
lic administor for Yukon to the
effect that James Kingston, for
merly of Dawson, was frozen to
death last winter at the head of
Crow River, a tributary of the
Porcupine.
. '
According to Mr. Burnham,
he engaged Kingston and two
others to go out on a fur buying
and trading expedition during
the winter, and Kingston was
lost while on the trip, No details
are given of the tragedy. The
letter from Burnham was dated
June 9 at Fort Yukon. It stated
that Jack Kingston, brother of
James had left immediately on
hearing of the death of his broth
er, to take charge of the body.
Jimmy Kingston, as the deceased
was generally known in Dawson
and other Northern camps, had
been in Alaska and Yukon for
many years. He formerly was
engaged on dredge and other
work near Dawson, and had par
ticipated in many stampedes &
and prospecting expedition from
this point. He was interest
ed in copper at the head of the
White River for years, and was
among the first stakers in the
Chisana placer camp, near the
head of the Wrhite river, and fig
ured conspicuously in the excite
ment incidental to the strike &
rush to that Held in 1913.
He afterwards went outside
for awhile and later went to the
lower Yukon, and afterwards
to the Porcupine, where he
spent several seasons in compan
y with his brother Jack.
i ■ - . ;
Another brother, William, left
Yukon with one of the conting
ents for the front and was last
heard from on the coast.
'‘ Jimmy Kingston was known
as one of the best musher* in
the Y ukon, and old timers are
surprised that he met his death
by freezing. It is thought
likely that he was lost in a storm
while attempting to cross one of
the divides in a barren stretch
near the Arctic divide.
.Other mushersin that region
had narrow escapes while out in
stoJms which prevailed there
last winter.
It is believed that the”Jimmie’‘
Kingston above referred to is
the same James Kingston who
was accused of the murder, in
the Chisana district, on Decern
her 26th. 1914, of Louis Schon
born, a storekeeper.
Kingston was taken into cus
tody by Deputy Marshal A, P.
Hoffman, and was given a pre
liminary hearing before the Com
missioner at Chisana, at which
he was held to the Grand Jury,
He was brought to Valdez to
gether with a number of wit
nesses, most of whom were na
tives. The case against Kingston
hinged largely upon marks made
upon cartridge shells fired from
a rifle known to have been in
the possession of Kingston on
the day of the murder.
Time and corrosion had ren
dered it uncertain whether the
marks on the shells found at
the scene of the murder were
identical with marks on other
shells fired from the gun, and
the Grand Jury returned “Not
a True Bill'’.
Several years later Kingston
and one of his brothers were
reported to have lost their
lives in the far north, but they
turned up again after being ab
sent many months.
As for the Schonborn mystery
it was never fathomed, and the
murderer of the harmless old
storekeeper has not yet been
discovered.
Nor were the perpetrators of
the Willow Creek murders, when
two prospectors mushing along
the Fairbanks trail, were killed
in the summer of 1913. ever
brought to book.
The gruesome Siiberg case,
and the mysterious death of Joe
Petrie, both of which took
place in March, 1918, were never
fathomed.
The fate of Henry Myers,the
trader and trapper of Chisana
country who disappeared during
the winter of 1920 has never
been known,
Perhaps in the years to come
some guilty wretch’s deathbed
confession will help clear up
the mysteries.
PORT OF MISSING MEN
Information is asked for
concerning the whereabouts of
Robert Alexander, who is be
lieved to have been in this part
of Alaska in the last years.
Communicate with the McCai;
thy Weekly News, or direct to
Miss Florence Lange, Route 5
Columbus, Wisconsin.