VOL. 3
PETERSBURG, ALASKA JULY 27, 1928
NO. 2
Chronicle Charge Malfeasance In
Office, Inhumanity, Illiteracy and
Close Association Underworld
/ The Ketchikan Chronicle in .1
slashing editorial this week chargee.
Marshal A1 While with inefficiency,
illiteracy, close association with un
derworld characters, inhumanity
prisoners under his care (“Tex" Gill
and others); malfeasance in office.
In proof of the charges, Hditoj
Morrissey shows that because of in
effi. iency in methods, one Charles
Sinclair ,federal prisoner at Juneau
made his escape and is at large to
date. That White’s first knowledge
of the escape was several days at’
ter it occurred and when attorney.
m requested to see prisoner.
As evidence of the illiteracy of
Air. White of Idaho, the Chronicle
offers letters that would be credit
aide to a hoy in his first years in
school.
Third point that is brought out
is Sandy Levy’s endorsement of A1
for marshal and their trysts outside.
Levy, before his recent arrest by
Fred Handy prohibition agent, was
generally called the king of the
bootleggers with close association
with White continuing.
The dismissal of deputy Matron
to. an old pioneer to favor a deputyT
wife was heartily condemned as be
ing one of the smallest things that
has been pulled off in that office.
White collected assessments from
his deputies for the Idaho campaign
and called same “contributions.”
Winding with a real Alaskan fin,
ish, the Chronicle demanded the re
signation of A1 White.
His appointments in general are
of men just as illiterate and ignor
ant as he is, he has drawn for tins
most part on the riff raff and scum
of the snitchers and snoopers, gum
sheers and fixers of his wide aq
auintance in Idaho and California.
His management of the Skagwav jail
through his brother-in-law was the
direct and immediate cause of the
death of “Tex” Gill of Petersburg.
Prisoners in this jail were fed on
“thirty cents a day” which did not
include any of the ordinary essen
tials to the wellbeing of the prison
ers. Whether the brother-in-law
was never said but it was plenty,
“split” the swag with White or not
The affiliation and association of
bootleggers in Ketchikan, has long
White with Sandy Levy, king of
been uncovered scandal. Sandy was
his bartender, Caswell his saloon
manager at Cordova and Caswell’s
two late appointees in Ketchikan
were reputed as being go-betweens
to get the swag for White from the
bootleggers, pimps, hopheads and
law violators in general.
White saloon, pre-Volstead days,
in San Francisco was the toughest
of the toughest down Barbary,
Coast, San Francisco. A knock-out,
drag-em-out dump where men were
shanghaied for shipping vessels and
and divorced from their earnings
without compunction. It was so
tough that men in Alaska do not
compare it even with Billy The Mugs
in Seattle.
The Alaskan has maintained that
it is time that White and his force of
flatfooters from Idaho with their
carpet bags resign for the good of
the service Now the Chronicle joins
in. Next!
$15,000,000 Profits Is
Made By Premier
In spite of the announcement that
Premier had affected quarterly pay
dividents, bringing quatrerly pay
ments from eight to six cents, very
litile effect has been noticeable on
the market.
Mnce the beginning of its opera
tv>ns, Premier reports it has mined
and milled approximately 1,250,000
tons of ore, the total production
amounting to 79S.S26 ounces of gold
and 21,498,000 ounces of silver. To
tal profits after deducting taxes, bui
before deductions for depreciation
and ore depletion, were $15,000,000.
Total distribution to shareholders
was $12,000,000. Until the recent re
duction, Premier paid a steady divi
de! t rate of 32 per cent per annum
on its par value of $1 per share.
•SI,000,000 in Rye Whiskey Found
in Kegs of Herring
-v cargo of alleged prewar rye
whiskey, estimated to be worth $1.
00 0.000 at retail, was seized today
bv customs agents n the Red Cross
liner Nerissa. The contraband was
in kegs under pickled herring which
had been brought in large barrels
from Halifax, N. S. The Nerissa
docked in Brooklyn recently.
An agent of the appraisers’ stores
was checking cargo to be delivered
to truck men late last night when he
found a ten-gallon keg of whiskey
at the bottom of the first barrel )f
herring he examined. A hurried
search showed that a similar keg was
apparently at the bottom of each of
the 150 fish barrels.
Charged With Assault
With Weapon
William Malmberg was arrested
at Port Alexander and brought to
Petersburg by Deputy Marshall
Sherman of Tenakee. Malmberg is
charged with assualt with a dan
gerous weapon and bound over to
the grand jury. Unable to raise
bonds he is sitting in durance vile
in the local federal bastile.
Malmberg assualt Ole E. Sunde
when Sunde refused to turn over a
stiff claimed by Malmberg until
Malmberg produced a witness as
evidence of his ownership of the
boat. Sunde had found the boat
drifting and picked it up, makng in
quiries as to ownership and had
possession for a week before the
assualt. Sunde was willing to turn
over the boat but asked for proof
of ownership when Malmberg hit
him over the head with an oar and
across the arm, beating him up gen 1
orally so that he is a mass of band
ages on the head and arm. Dr. R
N. Rogers, Port Alexander, was in
attendance on the injurd man who
was also brought to Petersburg.
Rasmus Enge is making prepara
tion for considerable improvement
on his showhouse the Variety Thea
ter this fall He is not ready to tell
of his plans at this time but it will
be plenty.
Jesse Lee Home Again
Produces Winner
The Marathon mountain race re
cord established by Alec Bolam
yet rs ago of 54 minutes 37 seconds
was shattered July 4th by a 14-year
old boy, Indian boy, Ephriam Kul
makoff, carrying the Jesse Lee
Home colors. Three notable feat
u»> s marked his victory, the longer
route of at least three blocks, tak
ing the starting point into consider
ation, the youthfulness of the chan:
p;on, and the wide margin of time
cut from the old record. Ephri
am's time was 52 minutes and 35
set onds.
Max Shellabarreg of Anchorage,
who took second money last year, re
peated this year, and also smashed
his former time, coming within .
fraction almost of Bolan’s record.
Sydney Henrikson, Seward high
school student, revealed a courage
ous heart when he crossed the line
in 57 minutes and 0 seconds. Sid
ney was probably in the most weak
ened condition, fairly staggering
across the line, but he finished
among the victors.—Seward (late
wav.
Nordics Celebrate
At Hoquiam
Seven Scandinavian organization’;
of Grays Harbor will join July 28,
and 29 in a gigantic two-day cele
bration and picnic.
Starting with a dance at Vasa
temple the evening of July 2S, the
celebration will continue all day
Sunday at Riverside park. Prepara
tions are being made for an at
tendance of 5000.
Organizations participating will be
the Order of Runeberg, Order of
Vasa, Sons of Norway, the Viking
lodge and affiliate bodies. The
Vada male chorus, the Sylvia choir
the Grieg Singing society and
Runeberg chorus will participate in
the musical program.
MARK V. MATHEWS OFF GOV.
AL SMITH
The distinguished Dr. Mathews,
past or of the First Presbyterian
Ch <rch of Seattle, the largest of
that denomination in the United
States, recently said:
“Gov. Smith has made it impos
sible for me to support him. He us
ed the Democratic Prohibition plat
form as a springboard to jump onTo
a platform of his own.”
Dr. Mathews was a close personal
friend of President Woodrow Wil
son and lias taken a prominent pa^'t
in Democratic councils.
Totem Pole Changes
Hands
Mr. and Mrs. Joe Standard are
taking over the management of the
“Totem Pole” which has been run
by Miss Mary Allen in the past. Miss
Allen plans to spend a much needed
vacation with her parents and
friends at Green Rocks. After her
vacation she plans to. devote her
time exclusively to taking, enlarg
ing, tinting and painting pictures.
After Sunday the “Totem Pole”
will be closed for re-decoration until
Saturday morning, August fourth
Joe and his wife plan on staying
in Petersburg this winter.
Sutter Strong On
Normal Season
Carl A. Sutter, manager of the
Fidalgo Island Company canneries
ir Alaska, in an interview with a re
porter on tile Seward Gateway re
-cently, said that the results of his
observations point to a normal sea
son and average pack. *
When Ernest Schoenwald, man
ager of the Petersburg Packing Co ,
returned to Petersburg this sum
mer, he offered to wager $2,000 to
$1,000 or any amount under at 2 to
1 .hat the local cannery would put
put up its pack per contracts this
year. The “season for some unac
countable reason is late again this
year” so that in the next twenty
d"vs the big cannery will have to
average around 4,000 cases a day
to get its big pack.
Dobbins Cannery at Wrangell was
just getting ready to pack, this
week. Point Ward Packing Co. was!
more fortunate than last year—she
had around 5,000 cases, reported. .
Pillar Bay was putting up a few
cases but so far “far from a norrmal
average pack.” ?
Fish were reported as running bet
ter on the West Coast than it did
last year. They need only ten thou
sand cases—200,000 s a 1 m o n—to
beat that pack.
The “flurry” reported in Icy
Straits is over with—goodbye first
r'i.n. Another short spasm and il
will be all over up there. The run
of salmon reported in Icy Straits go*
b'- the traps into Chatham and some
managed to get up as far as Mitkoif
Is find.
“Normal season” and “average
pack” looks more like a “sub-norm
a1 season” aud subnormal pack.
Only the traps are getting any
salmon to speak of in the First Divi
sion—seiners get what the seagulls I
leave behind them.
.Some of the seiners are throwing
up their hands and gear and look
ing for any kind of a job that will
pay their expenses.
Pulp Mill in Hoquiam
(Alaska?)
A payroll equal to that of all lum
ber and shingle mills in Hoquiam
working on a one shift basis, will be
created here by construction of the
Hammermill Paper Co. plant, in con
junction with the Grays Harbor
Pu’p Co.’s huge pulp plant in East
Hoquiam, it was stated authorita
tively today. The two plants will
give steady employment to approxi
mately 1000 men and women, 800
in :he paper mill and 300 in the
pulp plant. The latter plant is
aoout completed, and the paper mill
will be stated imediately, for com
pletion next summer.
CONGRESS MEETS SOON IN
MEXICO TO CHOOSE CHIEF
A congress made up mainly of
supporters of Alvaro Obregon will
meet in special session on July 30
presumably to settle the question of
presidential succession raised by his
assassination.
ft. is general expected that a way
will be found to continue President
Cailes in office. A nine-day period
of mourning will be observed
throughout Mexico in the meantime
for the slain President-elect, whose
rial train to his native state of
body today was traveling on a spe
Sonora for burial.
Louise S, Puts Up Fine
Herring Pack
The Louise S. salting herring for
the Alaskan Glacier Sea Food Com
pany, left out for Surprise Harbor
Monday noon. She had aboard 300
barrels which she will fill with salt
herring.
The grade of herring being put up
is far superior to the product put
out by fertilizer plants. The reas
on? The fertilizer plants specialize
on “fish-meal” “oil” and “fertiliz
er ” Their herring is taken to the
herring factories in cargo lots up
to 30 or more tons in one lot. The
herring is a fish that cannot stand
any weight therefore the fish is in
poor condition when delivered. AS
compared to this—Ohmer’s fish are
taken from a pond as needed.
Bureau of Fisheries Goes
East For Watchman
The Bureau of Fisheries hires
smart men from the States as Creek
watchmen. Their representative at
Port Houghton recently reported a
run of “five million king salmon”
which he “followed up stream five
miles in one day.”
A run like that would be duck
soup to the fishermen down lower
Chatham Straits long before it ever
reached Port Houghton.
Alaskans Ho \ot Know How To
Count
Over at A nan Creek is an import
ed Creek watchman from the middle
east who is authority for
figures put out by Henry O’Malley
as to escapement up Anan Creek.
Six dollars per day for an east
ern man. It is reliably reported
by Henry’s “punks” that Alaskans
aie uncivilized and therefore un
able to count accurately, know noth
ing about salmon and have so much
money from their seining operations
that they do not need any job at $6
per day. Furthermore, the popula
tion is insufficient to care for the
number of stream watchmen neces
sary. “Brother-in-law” and other
“in-laws” therefore taken care of
by the scientifically decomposed bu
reau of fisheries.”
The local crab cannery started
operations this week and are going
full blast.
Rustgard Gives Opinion
Of Importance
Primary election returns covering
territorial candidates and party of
fic^rs cannot be canvassed by the
several clerks of court later than 45
da3rs after such election, it was hel l
in an opinion given by attorney Gen
eral John Rustgard to Secretary
Karl Theile. He also held that sup
plementary counts could be made bv
the clerks of returns of divisional
candidates for a limited period but
not later than Juiy 15.
The question arose as to the sup
plementary canvass in the thirl
Division where additional returns
v.ere received after the official can
vass was made by Clerk Cuddy at
Valdez on the 45tli day after the
last April primary. The ruling of
the Attorney General therefore
leaves Capt. A. E. Lathrop’s, plural
ity in the republican national com
mitteeman’s race of 225 votes for the
terrritory unchanged.
Mr. Rustgard’s opinion cites sec
tion 12 of chapter 39 of the Laws
of 1919—the Prrimary Election Law.
Laws Passed By
Congress Benefit
Territory
MEASURES PASSED BY COX—
CRESS PERTAINING
TO ALASK \
Approved and now law
H. R. 112 70 (Public Law 328),
An act to establish a uniform svs
t.-rn of registry of mail and to in
crease indemnity limit to $1,000.
this act increases the amount of
valuables that may be carried in one
package of registered mail from the
present amount of $100 to $1,000.
Shippers of furs or gold dust in
Alaska may now mail in one package
what they were formerly under the
law, required to place in 10 packages.
Tliis is a general act applicable to
the United States. but it will b-3
patticularly convenient to Alaska.
H. R. 32 8 (Public Law 263) : An
act to relieve the Territory of
Alaska from the necessity of filing
bonds in court proceedings.
H. R. 343 (Public Law 264 ) : An
a-'*t to permit review of inter
locutory orders of district courts.
:L R. 7367 (Public Law 201): To
peimit issuance of school bonds by
the town of Seward.
’ H. R. 340 (Public Law 202): To
permit issuance of school bonds by
the town of Anchorage.
II. R. 8126 (Public Law 452) by
Mr. Curry: An act to remove limi
tations on appropriations for Moun*
McKinley Park.
This bill was amended on the
floor of tiie House by Mr. Cramton,
of Michigan, to forbid the killing of
y.me in the park. The right to pros
pect for minerals within the park
boundaries remain in effect as bo
tore.
H. R. 9031 (Pubic Law 190) by
Ivfr. Sinnott: An act to provide for
disposal of abandoned military re
se vations in Alaska.
Private Bills
H. R. 2145 (Private Law 7): For
ihe relief of Albert J. Zyvolski. Com
pensated for loss by fire of house
hold goods and personal property on
the Alaska Railroad.
H. R. 2138 (Private Law 6): For
the relief of the schooner Sentinel.
A Coast Guard cutter collided with
*h’s vessel and Congress authorized
payment for damages.
H R. 332 (Private Law 147) : For
the relief of Englehard Sperstad,
who settled on land within the school
grant and could net obtan title to
his homestead except by this act of
Congress.
H. R. 333 (Private Law 67) : An
act to authorize the sale of lands
i:i Jesse Lee Home at Seward.
Herring Fisheries Show
Big Decline This Month
The herring seiners working for
tne fertilizer plants report a very
good season during the month of
June. Their big catch coming from
Noyes Island, West Coast of Prince
of Wales Island, and Lynn Canal.
Virtually no herring around Chath
am Straits to date. During the cur
rent month mighty few herring were
caught and delivered to the “stink
factories.”
Mrs. William Tamaree, Lay-work- ‘
er for the Presbyterian Church in
Petersburg left Ketchikan for points
oast on the 25th. She will not re
turn for two months.