« Heu-M WAGNEng
VOLUM EXVIII
NUMBER 312
SEWARD, ALASKA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1923 ...
PRICE TEN CENTS
Osborne Wood Under Investigation
Japanese Prince Regent Target for Bullets
*
*
accumulated a fortune of
SEVENTY THOUSAND IN LESS
THAN TWO YEARS
WAR DEPARTMENT IS CURIOUS
Osborne Wood Is Now Military Aid
to Father in Philippines—Money
Made In Wall Street
NEW YORK, Dec. 27—The finau-'
cial operations ot' Lieutenant Osborne
C. Wood, sou o£ Governor General
Leonard Wood of the Philippines, who
is reported to have accumulated a
fortune of $70,000 in Wall Street in
the past three months, were made the
subject of a War Department investi
gation, the New York Times said to
day. Young Wood, now in the Phil
ippines, is his lather s military aide.
Department Has No Comment
WASHINGTON Dec. 27.—The Wat
Department is withholding comment j
on the financial operations ot Lieut
ant Osborne C. Wood, it was said here
today.
Secretary Weeks admitted that he
would be obliged to officially check
the financial operations of Young
Wood who is reported to have made
a fortune of a million in fourteen
months, sending his orders in by ca
ble to Wall Street.
Carried in Oil Stocks
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 .-—Official
representatives here ol the Philippine
government, charge that Osborne
Wood’s advent in high finance dates
from the period of his father’s cam
paign for the presidency lour years
ago. In this quarter it is reported
that certain American financial inter
ests during the pre-convention period
carried Osborne Wood on a deal for
$30U,00U in oil stocks, the profit from
which gave him a start for tuture
speculations.
Congress is expected to order in-,
vestigation immediately after uie .hol
iday recess.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 27.—Congress
is asked to appropriate a million dol
lars for a marine hospital for Seattle,
in a recommendation now before the
treasury department.
HEAVY HOLIDAY Ml
Seattle Office Reports a Twenty-five
Per Cent Increase Over 1922
SEATTLE, Dec. 27.—Postmaster S.
It. Perkins announced today that this
holiday mail was twenty-five per cent
heavier than that of last year.
DOCTORS ADMIT THEY MADE
ERROR AND KILLED PATIENTS
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 27.—After
several weeks investigation by local
authorities, Dr. Jonathan Forman and
Dr. E. F. Gordon admitted today they
had unknowingly administered poison
to two patients who died in Septem
ber with a short time apart, and to a
local physician who recovered after a
violent illness. The patients were un
der treatment for digestive disorders
at the time.
The doctors claimed an error in
their prescriptions was the cause of
the poisoning.
Mrs. Chas. C. Hinde Is the holiday
guest of Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Balderston
at Anchorage.
1
FROM POLE TO PR,SOM
KEYSTONE VIEW CO. NEW YORK
Dr. Frederick A Cook, former po
lar explorei, who was recently found
guilty in Federal Couit, Ft. Worth, ot
fraud in connection with his oil oper
ations. He received a sentence of 14
years and 9 months and a fine of
$12,000. Dr. Cook is well known in
Seward.
SEATTLE. Decc. 27.—Aerial maiij
carrying tests over Alaskan reaches
to be attempted by the Postoffice de-,
partment will be made through Super-|
intendent Vandervort ot the railway!
way service it was declared tonight.
It is said the flights will be started
in February on a w eek to ten day I
schedule between Nenana and Mc-|
Grath, and that in that time under
the prevailing weather the practica-j
bility of such service could be dem
onstrated.
ANCHORAGE MAN ARRESTED
ON CHARGE OF PERJURY
Gust Schustereid of Anchorage lias
been bound over to the grand jury ouj
a charge of perjury growing out of the |
recent Louis Hertle case, who was
recently found guilty of having intox
icating liquor in his possession. It is
alleged that Schustereid who is a
partner of Hertle in the California
pool hall at Anchorage, swore that he
had seen federal officials “plant” the
evidence on the premises. He alleged
a “frame-up.” The authorities retal
iatd writh the perjury charge.
KERMIT ROOSEVELT
WASHINGTON Dec. 27.—Kermit
Roosevelt has been granted a reserve
commission as captain in the field ar
tillery by the war department.
SEATTLE POLICEMAN
FIRED FROM THE FORCE
SEATTLE, Dec. 27.— Policeman
Morris S. Brown, was dismissed from
the force this morning for conduct un
becoming an officer in having kid
naped his own son from his wife who
divorced him.
REPARATIONS COMMISSION
TO MEET JANUARY 14th
PARIS, Dec. 27.—The inter-alliea
reparations commission will meet Jan.
14th to investigate Germany’s capac
ity to pay her debts.
HEAD OF LOURDES MISSION ON
WAY TO ORPHANAGE WHEN
ACCIDENT OCCURRED
DOGS SCATTERED BY REINDEER
Aged Priest Followed Trail for Many
Miles Until Extreme Cola and
Exhaustion Overcame Hirn
__
NOME, Dec. 27.—Further particu
lars regarding the death of Father F.
J. Ruppert, S. J., who perished from
cold and exhaustion on the Pilgrim
River trail, December 16, were mot to
Nome today.
Father Ruppert, who was head of
Lourdes mission, started for Hot
Springs Orphange with a dog team,
carrying oranges, apples and other
Christmas cheer for the fifty boys and
girls at the orphanage, 8U miles north
of Nome. It is stated that a reindeer
herd stampeded the dog team, while
Father Ruppert was in camp alone,
about eight miles from his destination.
The priest followed the trail of the
dogs for two miles, and finally entered
a clump of brush near the trail, where
he attempted to build a fire. A heavy
blizzard was raging at the time, and,
the mercury stood thirty below zero.
Father Ruppert left Duffy O’Connor’s
roadhouse that morning after the
men had vainly tried to get him to i
remain over until the storm subsided,
saying that the could not disappoint
his little friends in their Christmas.
Following the departure of the aged
divine the blizzard increased and it
appears that he had gone in camp, to
await a lull in the wind. It was then
that his dog team took out after the!
reindeer herd.
After attempting to build a fire ol I
willows the priest had apparently laid;
down to rest. His parka was neatly
folded and lay between his arms and
his body, and death apparently came,
painlessly and while lie was asleep
from exhaustion.
The search for Father Ruppert!
started immediately when one of hisi
^ogs showed up at the orphanage on
Christmas day. Another of the dogs
showed up at Iron creek, 15 miles;
away and every available man started,'
out from that point.
“Mink,” the huge malamute leader!
of the priest’s eight dog team, return-1
ed to the body of his master and was'
standing guard when found. The ani-;
mal resented the party’s approach so
fiercely that it was over an hour be-'
force it would consent to the removal
of the frozen corpse.
Father Ruppert was buried on
Christmas Day, by the members of the
orphanage, for whose pleasure he:
gave his life.
The victim has relatives in San
Francisco and came north in 1918, en-j
dearing himself to the people of Nome
and this district by his unsparing ser-'
vice to the people. During the intiu-!
enza epidemic in the fall of 1918 he'
worked day and night with both Eski
mos and whites, giving of his strength
and resources to aid the afflicted. j
This is the first life lost on the trail
this winter.
NEW \ ORK, Dec. 27.—Willie Iloppe
the champion billiard p layer of the
world and his wife are suing for di-i
vorce and are fighting in the courts
for custody of their two children.
GETS FOR YEARS IN PEN
SEATTLE, Dec. 27.—James Duffy
alias James Murphy was sentenced to
day to serve four years in McNeil’s
island penitentiary following his plea
of guilty to an indictment charging
counterfeiting.
Robin Hood at the Liberty.
DRILLS NEARING OIL BEARING
SANDS, SAYS J. J. FINNEGAN,
IN INTERVIEW
ASSOCIATED TO RESUME WORK
Cessation of Drilling Only Temporary
Until Plans Could Be Clarified,
Says Finnegan
Predicting that the Standard Oil
Company will strike oil in the Cold
Bay field within 60 days, provided “it
wants to,’’ and reporting that the As
sociated Oil company will resume
drilling in that field early in the
spring, Capt. J. J. Finnegan, in an in
terview with the Anchorage Times, is
very optimistic over the outlook for
the Cold Bay district in the spring.
In a statement to the Times Mr.
Finnegan is alleged to have cleared
up the mystery surrounding the sud
den abandonment of drilling by the
sudden abandonment of drilling by
the Associated company last fall. He
said:
“The Associated company’s cessa
tion of drilling was only temporary,
and I am positively advised by offi
cials that drilling will be resumed in
the early spring. Supt. G. L. Jones,
who is now in San Francisco, will sail
for Kanatak probably in March. The
company has two holes down on our
ground one Dll) feet deep Hie other
560 feet deep. Under our contrac.
with the associated they paid us
$65,000 for the privilege of drilling
and guaranteed to drill to 3,000 feet
depth in 1923. The penalty tor their
failure to drill to that depu, cost them
$25,000 which has been pant to oui
company,— the Alaska Oil Company.
However, the Associated must resume
drilling this spring and the company
will go ahead without fail. The Asso
ciated is interested with me pei son
ally in the Kanatak townsite, and I
was assured at San Francisco they;
have no intention of sacriicing either!
their drilling or their townsite right' I
and will resume.”
Interested with Capt. Finnegan in
the Alaska Oil company are Frank
Curtis, James Hayden and Jack Lee.
The Standard Oil Company is now
down over 1,000 feet on the W. G. Lee
and Mrs. Fd McNally claim, according
to Cap*. Finnegan and according to
him could “hit the first oil sanJ with
in sixty cays if it wanted to." The
first oil well will be struck at about
1801 foot depth, Capt. Finnegan esti
mates. He saysrthat geologic opinion
is that there are three oil sands be
neath the first one.
The Standard Oil Company’s con
tract calls for continuous drilling,
that of the Associated does not.
PARIS, Dec. 27.—The general belief
among officials here is that the big
dix-igible lacking fuel and with one
moter out of commission has been
forced down in the Mediterranean,
the crew being drowned. The Dix
mude carried fifty officers and men
Scandal Is Developed
PARIS, Dec. 27.—The loss of the
French naval dirigible Dixmude this
afternoon somewhere in the Sahara,
was severely condemned by the cabi
net in session this afternoon, and the
affair lias developed into a sdandal, of
which explanations are to be demand
ed by the government.
Miss Anna Stoner of the Frisco cafe
who has been visiting Miss Mabel
Hutton, has returned to Anchorage.
NEWSPAJER MAN HEADS
U. S.I
George Seibel, long connected withj
the Pittsburgh Gazette Times and
later with the German v'clksblait and
Freheits Freund, has been selected .as
national president of the American
Turnerbuud. The Turnerbund has
175 societies apd 35,000 adult mem
bers.
The organization has a proud his
tory, as it was the Turners who saved
Missouri to the Union as related in
“The Crisis,” by Winston Churchill.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 27.—Congress'
has been asked to make an eleven
million dollar appropriation available
immediately after the holidays for
hospital construction, Director Hines;
of the Veterans’ Bureau announced to
day.
Mr. Hines stated the hospitals now
used are badly crowded and that moref
space is necessary to successfullyj
treat disabled war veterans.
COAST WISE SHIPPING
LAWS EXTENDED
TOJILIPPlISj
WASHINGTON, Dec. 27.—President1
Coolidge has taken up the question of
extending the coastwise shipping laws
under the Jones Act to the Philippines
and today asked Chairman Jones of
the Senate committee on commerce to
submit a memorandum setting forth
his recommendations.
WATSON DUE SUNDAY
The steamship Admiral AVaison will
arirve in port Sunday southbound.
The article in the Gateway yesterday
saying the Watson would be back
Tuesday was an error.
LAKEHURST, Dec. 27.—Comman
der Weyerbacher, Construction Mana
ger Anton Heinan, and Consulting En
gineer Capt. F. R. McCrary of the big
dirigible Shenandoah wiil confer in
Washington next week with the Navy
department relative to the proposed
North Pole trip.
W. J. McMillan, an old timer of the
interior left for the states on one of
the last boats.
Henry Sager left today for Divide.
ESGiPESI BULLETS
PRINCE HIROTO ON WAY TO AT
TEND DIET HAS NARROW
ESCAPE FROM DEATH
BULLETS STRIKE AUTOMOBILE
Affair Believed to Habe Been Insti
gated by Socialists—Three Are
Arrested by Gendarmes
TOKIO Dec. 27.—An unknown who
escaped in th confusion, took two
wild shots a rinee Regent Hirohito
this mornir hile the prince was on
his way to * ttend the session of the
Japanese di t.
In an official announcement this
afternoon regarding the attempted as
sassination, it was stated that one
bullet had struck the car in which the
prince regent was driving to the diet
to address parliament, but that the re
gent had not been injured. Viscount
Irive, lord chamberlain, was slightly
injured by glass which the bullets
shattered..
Daisuke Naha, 24. declared lo be a
Socialist, was arrested later, together
with twro alleged accomplices, charged
with the shooting.
The wildest excitement prevailed In
Tokio for a few- hours after the affair
the rumor going over the city like
a flame that the prince regent had
been killed. Immense crowds gather
ed before the diet building calling for
the pi ince, and it w-as necessary for
him to show himself several times be
fore his excited subjects would depart.
A general clean-up of known social
ists is under way this afternoon, sev
eral hundred having been arrested.
CHICAGO, Dec. 27.—Fifteen pa
tients in the state hospital fot rhe in
sane at Dunning burned to death in a
fire which destroyed the dormitory
tor tubercular patients last night.
Four thousand, many violently in
sane, fought to escape the flames, and
fifty who escaped are still at large.
mioin i men
SEATTLE, Dec. 27.—Alfred H. Lun
den, former prosecuting attorney, has
entered the mayoralty race, to suc
Mayor Brown.
Grim Reaper Wields Scythe In Seat
tie, Taking Man and Child
SEATTLE, Dec. 27.—N. P. Tubbs,
a caretaker at Woodland Park and
Catherine Gardner, aged 8, were run
down and killed by autos earlv this
morning.
SHERMAN DUGGAN NOT ILL
WRITES HARRY G. M'CAIN
Harry G. McCain, assistant district
attorney at Cordova writes that re
ports of a nervous breakdown of Dis
trict Attorney Sherman Duggan of
ar* not true- Mr. Duggan savs
that Mr. Duggan had a severe case of
influenza at Cordova which kept him
out of court work during the term
but after a few weeks was in good
health again and is now in the States
on a business trip. Mr. Duggan re.
turned to Valdez on the Watson.