HOT SPRINGS POST
One Dollar Per Month.
HOT SPRINGS, ALASKA, SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1909:
Two Bits a Throw
NOT
HALF hAD AS
Will be washed from the dumps on Sul
livan creek this spring, is the estimate of
conservative miners; by fall it will reach
NOTHING DOING IN COURT
It’s the same old, old story.
The term of court which was advertised to
convene at Fairbanks on Monday last, April 12,
failed to materialize, and the term has lapsed
owing to the non-appearance of a judge.
What shall the harvest be?
Since Silas H. Reid lias been the judge of
the Third division his principal occupation seems
to have been issuing calls for terms of court at
Fairbanks. To an observer it appears that the
Hon. Silas never knows what he really desires
until after he has issued a call for a term of court
at Fairbanks; after which he suddenly and clearly
realizes that he has urgent business elsewhere to
attend to—hundreds of miles from the place of
his advertised scene of action. In the meantime
scores of jurors, litigants and witnesses through
winter’s disagreeable elements are plodding along
the long and lonesome trails to reach Fairbanks ,
—only to learn that the “term has lapsed.”
Quite a number of residents along the Fairbanks
Gibbon trail spent a goodly portion of last win
ter answering tlie'e blank cartridge calls for court.
Legal affairs in the northern part of the
Third division are with each succeeding day be
coming more and more demoralized and unsatis- j
factory; many important cases are pending in the j
court, the federal jail is crowded with prisoners, j
much mining ground is in litigation and cannot^
be worked until matters are adjudicated. The
enforcement of the new and freakish liquor law,
of which so much is heard and so little known, is,
indeed, a difficult piece of work for conscientious j
subordinate officials to perform, as it appears to
contain some very tangible provisions.
And the judge over 300 miles away.
Kelly & Anderson, the pioneer hotel men of:
Sullivan creek, were in the Springs last Thursday j
to see about the renewal of their liquor license j
having closed theijr barroom on the night of the'
14th owing to the Expiration of their permit. The!
money necessary f|>r their new license is now in
court clerk’s ha*|jls at Fairbanks, and it is be
lieved that their place will be permitted to resume
business as has been the custom of the country
ever since a license has been levied in Alaska.
The license money in this instance was arranged
for through the local branch of the N. C. Co.,
which concern's attorney will look after it in
Fairbanks; and, judging from the past, very lit
tle that the Octopus ever reached for in interior
Alaska that it failed to land, it is safe to presume
that Kelly & Anderson will have a license.
Advices received from the district attorney’s
office state “that every liquor application will be
considered separately when same is filed.” It is
difficult to understand how an application may
be considered expeditiously when it is filed if
there is no judge to consider it. From the syn
opsis of the new law regulating the liquor traffic,
it appears that the district judge is the only per
son clothed with discretionary powers.
The district attorney also says that “new ap
plicants must not open up to do business until
license is granted.”
The judge! still over the hills and far away.
CANAL WORK WILL BE RUSHED
-Tvasnington, April 15.—The President has
already indicated to Jacob M. Dickinson, the new
secretary of war, that he wants the secretary to
visit the Panama canal scene at the earliest possi
ble opportunity. The President has further indi
cated that he hopes the secretary will be 'able to
devise means whereby the work can be so facili- j
tated as to effect the completion of the canal by
January 1, 1913, which will be within Mr. Taft’s
term as chief executive. Although the President
has clearly indicated to congress that he believes
the national legislature would be wiser to avoid
efforts to enact legislation other than the tariff
bill at the special session, he has deviated from
that policy far enough to urge on Representative
Mann the enactment of his bill, which deals with
the control of the canal zone, and confers on the
Preeident that authority to administer the affairs
of the canal and the canal zone, which he believes
he now lacks.
President Taft believes that in the war de
partment everything is so well organized that the
details can be left for a time to the supervision of
the general staff if nece&sary, but work on the
Panama canal must be under the immediate su- i
pervision of the secretary of war. An important J
consideration in the selection of Mr. Dickinson
for the portfolio of wer was his extensive experi-.
ence with railroads, and Mr. Taft believes that liej
can not administer the affairs of the canal with'
the greatest effectiveness until he has been to the
isthmus.
The Mann bill includes a number of other
more or less important provisions, among them
one abolishing the Isthmian Canal Commission,
an unworkable institution which was inserted in
the Spooner amendment only to satisfy the in
sistence of Senator Bacon at the time when the
legislation was at a critical place. The Mann
bill substitutes for the commission a chief engi
neer, a director and a governor, but, as there is
no need whatever for the director, it is by no
means improbable that as reintroduced that pro
posed functionary will be eliminated from the
measure.
DUMA TO RESTRICT
CAPITAL OFFENCES
St. Petersburg, April 15.—President Khomyakoff, of
the Duma, strongly urged the Czar at a recent audience
to stop the widespread inflicting of capital punishment,
and abolish martial law. Evidently the Czar has given the
matter serious consideration, for it is now announced that
the government has determined not to impose the death
sentence except in supreme cases, and to refer to the civil
courts all cases that can be settled in those tribunals. Pre
mier Stolypin is not displeased at the condemning of mar
tial law and police abuses by all the parties in the Duma,
and hopes, with the Duma’s assistance, to make rapid pro
gress in withdrawing the various forms of martial law now
in force in various parts of the empire. The Duma pro
poses to adopt the budget with a resolution that martial
law be restricted to cases of exceptional necessity.
Will Build
Additions
Dr. C. D. Carter, the dentist-drug
gist of Sullivan creek, came in town
Thursday afternoon on a business trip.
Dr. Carter has decided to build addi
tions to his store room, as he will re
ceive a new pool table on one of the
early boats, and will also have a parlor
for the practice of dentistry. He has
the right kind of faith in the camp’s
possibilities._
Housekeepers can purchase fresh beef
and poultry by the pound at Stanley’s.
Jack Sipp with a team was sent to
Olson landing early in the week to re
move a boiler belonging to the N. G.
Co. to a place out of danger of the
river’s break-up. The break-up is one
of the few institutions of Central
Alaska that hasn’t yet passed into the
control of the Octopus.
Dr. Conley was called to Sullivan on
Tuesday last to attend a woman pati
ent, and was obliged to be absent two
days. His patient was much improved
when he started to return home.
If you can’t find what you want at
home, call up Carter’s drug store on
Sullivan^ He has ’most everything.
Camp Hot Springs No. 24, A. B., in
stalled a new roster of officers last
Monday night amid very pleasant sur
roundings. The ladies of the town had
been invited, and were also told to in
vite their friends, to attend the instal
lation ceremony, and they came from
far and near accompanied by many of
the membership’s gentlemen friends.
After a short business session of the
lodge, scores of visitors invaded the
lodge room and all attentively listened
to the instructive lectures delivered by
the installing oficer, C. A. Davidson,
J to the new officers of the camp. Many
of those present, after hearing the
“work,” formed oltogether new ideas
of the Brotherhood from what they
had heretofore entertained, and a large
addition to the Idclge’s membership is
sure to result from their newly-ac
quired knowledge.
Following is a fist of the officers in
stalledjor the ensiling six months:
Past Arctic Chief—C. A. Davidson.
Arctic Chief—J. F. Nellany.
Vice Arctic Chief—Charjes Cavan
augh.
Arctic Chaplain—G. M. Arbuckle.
Keeper of Nuggots—G. L. Morrison.
RAILWAY PROMOTER
COMMITS SUICIDE
Washington, April 12.—Heartbroken because his dream of hav
ing an intercontinental railroad open to commerce the fertile val
leys of Central and South America had never materialized, Hinton
Rowan Helper, former United States consul at Buenos Ayres,
committed suicide by gas in an obscure boarding house here.
He was author, railroad projector and civil war veteran. He
vainly sought means to carry out his project planned more than 40
years ago for a Three Americas railway, designed to connect the
Straits of Bering and Magellan. He was born in North Carolina
in 1829. The police tried to locate the relatives of Helper, who is
said to be survived by a blind, crippled wife. Helper was working
on an invention, and had a claim before congress. In one letter
found, asking for a loan, Helper said he had spent 42 years trying
to work out the railway scheme and had expended nearly $70,000.
Arctic Recorder—V. L. Bevington.
Arctic Trail Guide—H. Spencer.
Arctic Trail Blazer—J. F. Karshner.
Arctic Cook—J. F. Drake.
Outside Tollgate Keeper—J. A. John
son.
Inside Tollgate Keeper—L. L. Jones.
Trustees—Lynn Smith, V. L. Bev
ington, C. M. Jackie, H. Spencer, G. L.
Morrison.
At the close of the installation cere
mony an hour’s “gabfest” was enjoyed
by the assemblage, and everybody that
had anything to say was given a chance
to say it, and many who had nothing to
i say were extended the same privilege.
! In any event, several very good talks
j were heard from members, and the
! visiting bunch contained some good im
promptu speakers—among whom being
Dr. Conley, W. Sam Clark and Harry
Steves. The last-named gentleman had
only last week made a big reputation
as an out-door songster while enroute to
Sullivan, on this occasion added new
laurels to his fame as a “boy orator.”
When the social session adjourned
the ladies served a splendid lunch, and
a jolly time was indulged. The blame
for the pleasant evenin g and supper
should be shouldered by Past Arctic
Chief Davidson—he’s the responsible
party. _
Fresh beef and poultry can be had
in any quantity at the Stanley house.
Harry Turnbull has been spending
most of the week on Sullivan.