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VOLUME ONE. NUMBER 289-_CORDOVA, ALASKA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1915._ PRICE TEN CENTS.
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WANTS DEFINTE DECISION AS TO POLICY
LONDON, Nov. 15—►'peculation continues rife in the press
nd among tlie people of the empire concerning the ultimate
destination and secret mission of Lord Kitchener. That the
matter is of vital importance to the nation is admitted for
nothing else could have attracted' Kitchener from his post
directing the army, and cause him to leave it within tlie control
of three civilians at this critical period. The latest rumor
which has gained considerable credence is that Kitchener has
lias gone on a mission to King Constantine of Greece, and that
he will ask for a definite decision concerning the policy of
Greece towards the allies, and will demand positive assurances
of the continuation of her present attitude of benevolent neu
trality.
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LONDON, Nov. 15—The diplomats representatives of the
allies at Athens are greatly alarmed at the hints being thrown
out from semi-official circles that Greece will withdraw from
her present attitude of benevolent neutrality towards the allies.
The statement is being made that the German military commis
sion has succeeded in winning over the king and the cabinet to
a different policy and tin- impression is growing that if the
Franco-British troops in Serbia should attempt to fall back
I towards Saloniki, that the Greek government would disarm
them and keep them interned until the termination of the war.
These disquieting intimations are said to come from the pre
mier and the minister of finance in the new cabinet- Their
'public utterances and official communications have all been to
j the effect that Greece entertained a warm friendship for the
allies and would persist in her attitude of benevolent neutrality,
! but they are not convincing to the allies.
XAPT LANE TELLS OF FINDING ARCTIC EXPLORER
Capt. Louis L. Lane, who found
Vilhjalmar Stefansson in the Arctic,
will leave on the steamer City of
Puebla for the states, where he will
purchase another boat and outfit
and start north again in the spring.
Captain Lane found the great Arctic
explorer on a sandspit off Cape Kellet
on the 11 th day of August, three days
after Stefansson had returned from
his winter’s sled trip to the north.
The Polar Bear was weathering a
storm at the time. A northeaster had
sprung up. the ice was running dan
gerously fast, and Captain Lane had
been forced to put into the shelter
offered by the cape. A long sandspit,
8 or 10 miles in length, extends out
into the ocean here. The skipper had
just dropped his anchor. Away off
in the distance he saw' a tiny speck
coming tow-ard the vessel. He put
out in a small boat to meet it. That
speck was the greatest Arctic ex
lorer that ever drew the breath of life,
Vilhja Imar Stefansson. He had just
returned from a long winter's sled
trip into unknown north. Of tea and
flour he had plenty, hut that was all
he did have except the meat his gun
could get for him. Words cannot
describe the feeling of the tw'o men as
they clasped hands in that ice bound
country. Stefansson had been lost,
of that the world was satisfied. The
vetern whaler and trader. Captain L.
L. Lane, was determined to searcn
for him, for he believed that Stefans
son was alive. And it is Captain
Lane who found him; it is Captain L.
L. Lane who sold him the Polar Bear
and the best outfit that the veteran
explorer ever had to continue his
search for land in the unknown Arctic.
Sells the Boat.
Captain Lane sold the Polar Bear
to Stefansson. In exchange for it
he was given the North Star and
a cash consideration. But the North
Star was not where it was supposed
to be. and Captain Lane feared that if
he went to where the boat was Stfans
son would miss him. Therefore he
waited for the explorer, figuring that
it was better to be stuck in the Arctic
than to inconvenience and possibly
spoil Stefansson's plans. He later
got the Gladiator, a smaller craft, but I
Ja strong northwesterly gale sprung
| up and he was forced to put back to
! Herschel Island. The gale lasted
days and the veteran whaler missed
making the trip to Nome, where his
wife awaited him by just 48 hours.
Mrs. Lane left for the states on
the third of the month and will be
joined by her huBband In Seattle.
Stefanison's Equipment.
“Stefansson had the best outfit he
ever had; and I think he has the best
men he ever had." Asked whether
or not he took the crew of the Polar
Bear with him when he bought the
boat, Captain said:
“.Jill but two white men and six
Indians went with Stefansson. One
engineer and one sailor did not sign
with the explorer, and are wintering
around Herschel Island.”
Left for North.
“When did Stefansson leave on his
trip to the north?"
"On September 3rd he sailed 'or
the north end of Banks Land. He
expects to do a lot of exploring to
the northeast and northwest this win
ter. He was going to the north end
Banks Land when he sailed with the
Polar Bear. Stefansson has request
ed the Canadian government to allow
him one more year after this winter
in which to continue his explorations.
He has found a new' land which he
thinks is quite a large continent, and j
which has some big mountain ranges
on it. And he believes that there are
other lands to be discovered.”
Refute Stories.
The only time that Captain Lane
showed any signs of feeling except
when he was stating how glad he
was to see his friend, the veteran ex
plorer, was when he mentioned the
story that was first to come out in
the Seward Gateway discrediting
Stefannson’s story. In the first place,
he branded most of the statements as
unworthy of consideration and down
right untruths.
"The statement that anyone who
knows anything about the coasts up
around Herschel Island could have
known that Stefansson could not have
let It be known long ago that he was
alive is foolish. Vilhjalmar Stefans
son was not near Herschel Island.
No man has ever gotten to a point of
communication with the outer world
from the spot where Stefansson was.
It would necessitate a long, hard, ex
pensive sled trip, and would mean the
sacrifice of too much grub to make
the trip.
"I have been in the Arctic for
many years, and I have never heard a
single man deny that there are blonde
Eskimos there. They all claim, every
man who has been there, that there
are a small percentage of the Eski
mos. some with very blonde hair and 1
light blue eyes, in that part of the
country.
“The article says that men, whal
prs who have been where Stefansson
was, say there were no fairhaired
Eskimos there. Where the blonde
Eskimos live there are no whales,
and there are no whaling grounds
within 200 miles of the place. In all
my experience I have only seen one
whaler who has been in that part of
the Arctic.
The Commissioner's Son.
“The story that the son of the
United States commissioner at Teller
had made the statement that he had
promised that he would not knock
the outfit is foolish. I don’t believe
that because a man is the son of a
United States commissioner he is any
better or any worse than anybody
else, but this man made the trip in
the trip in the Kurluk from Nome to
Point Barrow, and then quit the ship
because he was afraid to take chances
on the ice with it. He did not have
the sand to go through even in the
steam heated boat.
The Karluk.
''The statement to the effect that
Stefansson should have known that
the Karluk could not be frozen in
solid at the point where she was
stuck on the 20th of September is
foolish. I was stuck at the same
time, and was stuck for the winter,
Stefansson was in shallow- water and
he did not think that the ice would
move again where the Kurluk was.
The ice run changes every year, you
cannot follow any set course or make
any definite plans in the Arctic
ocean.”
Captain Bartlett.
Captain Lane tnen spoke of the
way that Captain Bartlett handled the
Karluk. 'Captain Bartlett may he
an experienced navigator in the east
ern ice floes: there the water is deep
land the ice heavy, hut things are dif
ferent here. The water Is shallow
and the Ice heavy. Captain Bartlett
was warned to stay toward the shore
I but he started to drift with the floe.
It Is a wonder he did what he did.
The Karluk is one of the three boats
I know of that ever drifted around
Point Barrow in an ice floe without
being crusehed.
Best Proof.
"Every prospector, whaler, trader,
trapper. Royal Northwest Mounted
I policeman and native in that north
i ern country have nothing but words
of praise for Stefansson. He made
the longest sled trip ever made in the
world on ocean ice. and got his food
(Continued on Page 4)
GRcfiT SCTim
METAL STOCKS
NEW YORK, Nov. 15—The abnorm
al activity in the stock market con
tinues and the volume of the day’s
sales reached an enormous number
The market is in a highly speculative
condition with the metal stocks fea
turing. The usual investment issues
of bonds and debentures are display
ing unwonted haeviness and are mov
ing with hardly any interest being
taken in them.
,1,
LONDON, Nov. 15—Winston Churchill addressed the
House of Commons on a question of.privelege today and an
swered the caustic criticisms of his administration of the Ad
miralty which have been current throughout England since
the fiasco of sending the British marines to Antwerp- The ex
i cabinet member told the Commoners that the project of sending
th marines to Antwerp originated with Kitchener and the
French government and that he was in no way resposible for
the ill-fated expedition except issuing the necessary orders to
! carry the wishes of Kitchener into effect. He went thoroughly
I into the facts concerning Ids administration of the admiralty
and answered his critics in toto. Regarding the Dardanelles
lie defended the huge loss that had resulted from the operations
on-the Gallipoli peninsula and in ringing tones asserted that if
any military operations in the history of the world, either an
cient or modern, were worth carrying through with a sustained
fury and an utter diregard of human life, the operations in the
Dardanelles were worth it.
Austrian Aircraft Kills Many People.
ROME, Nov. 15—An air raid by Austrian flying machines
!on the Italian city of Verona yesterday resulted in the killing
iof thirty civilians and the wounding of forty-nine others.
Verona is a fortified city near the Trentino frontier, and is the
base of the Italian army operating along the valley of the Adige
river. Many explosives and incendiary bombs were dropped,
and considerable property damage was done- The Italians are
enraged over the killing of tin* civilians and are demanding that
the government take similar steps against the eneinv by shell
ing the cities of Trieste and Trent from the air- The Italians
have heretofore prided themselves oVer their carefulness of
civil lives and property.__
SERVICE
SEATTLE, Nov 15—The Great
Northern liner Minnesota, the largest
ship sailing on the Pacific ocean, left
here today for Liverpool with a full
cargo of grain, fish lumber. The big
ship will probably never be seen in
service on the west coast again, as
she will likely enter the Atlantic
freight service. The Minnesota was
the last American liner which plied
between the coast cities and the
Orient.
Army Shirkers Cannot Leave New Zealand
WELLINGTON, N. Z., Nov, 15—The government today
issued a decree forbidding all males between-the ages of eigh
teen and forty-five to leave the country for any' destination
overseas without permission of the millitary authorities- The
decree is along the same lines as the recent movement in
Great Britain to husband the fighting forces of the empire and
prevent the so-called shirkers from escaping the ignominy
attached to a failure to perform duty in the prmy.
BERLIN, Nov. 15—The situation along the eastern front
is satifactory to the German general stafl- They report the
fighting around Riga to have died dowrj somewhat the recent
Russian offensive having been checked, and TIindenberg s army
are taking new an dstronger positions. Further south in
Galicia General Linsingen has driven back the Slavs from the
west bank of the Styr, so that the Russians no longer control i
any portion of the west bank, having been forced to retire along,
their entire front in this region.
Cause of Resignation May Never Be Known.
PARIS, NUov. 15—Since his recent sudden resignation
from the ministry of foreign affairs M. Delcasse lias been living
very quietly in his modest quarters in Montmatre. His side ol
the story7 leading up to the resignation has not been told, an s<
the passing out of this prominent figure, who was probably
better known in England and America than any man in the
ministry, is likely to pass as one of the incidents of the war.
Teutons Take Over 10,000 Serbian Prisoners.
BERLIN, Nov. 15—The war office issued an official bulle
tin this morning saying that tin* Bulgarian army in the noitli
had greatly increased the force of its offensive, and by sv ift
marches and daring attacks had inflicted considerable losses
('ii the Serbians since Saturday. Sofia reports the capture of
7000 Serbians and seven cannon, while the Austro-German
forces took 1500 prisoners and five cannon.
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Took “Movie” of the Sinking French Steamer.
NICE, Nov. 15—The captain of the steamer France, which
was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the Medi
terranean reports that while his crew were getting into the
small boats in response to the commander’s orders to abandon
their ship, the submarine sailed up close to the vessel and took
moving pictures of the ship, showing the launching of the boats
and the crew disembarking. The effect of the torjiedo was
similarly portrayed, and' the final plunge of the vessel under
neath the waves, so that the Germans have a full pictorial re
presentation of the sinking of the vessel
Artillery Fighting in France and Belgium.
BERLIN, Nov. 15—Not much activity is reported iron
France and Belgium, the fighting in the main being confined u
artillery duels, although some hand grenade fighting has been
reported in the Vosges. The Germans stormed and captured a
French trench 300 yards long northeast of Bourie
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