; Heut Irr-d B Tal-.
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS.
.VOLUME XXI, NUMBER 17.
SEWARD, ALASKA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1926.
PRICE TEN CENTS
OLMSTEAD TRIAL
REVEALS TALE
SORDID GRAFT
POLICE PROTECTED BOOTLEGGER
CROWD AND HARASSED ITS
COMPETITORS
SEATTLE, Jan. 21 (/^—Prosecut
ing Attorney Revelle of Kiing County
told the Federal Grand Jury that
Olmsted had reigned two years in Se
attle as invisible police chief, his as
sociates not being prosecuted and his
competitors being “knocked over by
police raiders acting under Olmsted 3
orders.”
The government expects to show 4b
persons were allied in the two year
conspiracy against the United States
to defeat prohibition.
“We will prove the organization
was protected throughout the country
except by Federal officers, whom they
repeatedly tried to buy a specific in
sance being that of February 19, 1924.”
Revelle gave specific names, dates
and addresses, and traced the activi
tites of the organization, whose profits
he alleged ran to $40,000 monthtly. •
He said the gang worked on the
same basis as a corporation, and had
a business office, bookkeeper, office
for its private lawyer, Jerry Finch,
now leading the defense as counsel
and co-defendant, Finch being given
charge of the Olmsted office in the L.
C. Smith building. He gave legal
counsel to the organization and aided
their activities. Finch, Mark Flem
ming, and George Reynolds were fix
ers and go-betweens, their business
being to go to the police courts and
arrange matters.
They tried to get hold of the seized
liquor after Reynolds (a policeman)
had “knocked over” bootleggers who
failed to buy from the Olmsted organ
ization.
The organization was composed of
exporters, importers, smugglers, dis
tributers, transporters, warehousemen,
scouts, swampers, and jobbers.
The attorney said the organization
was one of the most colossal on the
Pacific coast and that its ramifica
tions reached into the business and
official heart of Seattle.
Neterer Excuses Juryman
SEATTLE, Jan. 21 (/P)—Judge Jere
Neterer yesterday excused Clyde L.
Morris from the Olmsted jury because
Morris stated he was making an engi
neering report on an eight million dol
lar water system in Alaska for the
United States Smeltting and Refining
Company.
DEADLOCK OVER
WORLD COURT
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 21 (JP)—
Failing to obtain an agreement for
dates to vote on either the tax reduc
tion bill or che world court, support
ers of the court said that it would,
hold the bill continuously before the
Senate until a roll call is secured.
INVESTIGATION OF
ALUMINUM CO.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 21 (£>)— I
The Senate Judiciary Committee re-1
called Attorney General Sargent and j
Assistant Chief Donovan concerning
Sargent’s memorandum of March 25,!
of last year regarding the Depart-!
rnent’s inquiry into the practices ofj
the Aluminum Company of America.
The memorandum addressed to Dono
van ordered no action or publicity in
the case until the report, is given Sar
gent.
Gold leaf is the thinnest of all ma
terials.
JOHN DREW AT 73 PLANS
A RETURN TO FOOTLIGHTS
NEW YORK, Jan. 21. (£>)— His love
of the theater unyielding in its de
mands, John Drew, a leading expo
nent of polite comedy, classical and
modern, is planning to return to tihe
stage as soon as he can find suit
able vehicle.
The actor has no special play in
mind other than “a good one,” and,
perhaps, one of the type which made
him famous as a “gay cavalier and
.the cantering fauceur” of social life.
Meanwhile, Drew is living a life
of leisure. He has left his home in
Eastihampton, L. I., for a Broadway
hotel during the theatrical season.
| Here, he greets his friends and is a
| familiar figure in the surroundings he
; likes best.
DECLARE MOTORS
WILL NOT REACH
POINT BARROW
WILL BE HELPLESS ON BARE
GROUND AND ICE ENCOUN
TERED ON TRIP
FAIRBANKS, Jan. 21 (JP)—An ob
servers’ test with the same type of
snow motor that Wilkins plans to use
in his trip overland from Nenana to
Point Barrow declare that WTilkins
will never reach his destination with
the machines as they will be helpless
on the ice and bare ground which they
wiill encounter in the wind swept
reaches between here and the Arctic.
The winter has been unusually mild
ducive to overflows in the rivers.
LOVES OPEN
FOR BUSINESS
IN NEW HOME
_ J
WELL KNOWN DRY GOODS COM
PANY MOVES FROM TACOMA
TO SEATTLE
SEATTLE—Significant of Seattle’s
growing importance as a wholesale
distributing point for the Northwest
including Alaska, is the opening to
business of the extensive establish
ment'of the A. V. Love dry goods com
pany at the southwest corner of 8th
avenue and Virginia street.
Opening the institution yesterday
with a personnel totaling about 90
people means in the neighborhood of
270 new residents for Seattle and also
means a large payroll.
The business has been conducted
from Tacoma headquarters since 1903
when it was first established. Its re
moval to Seattle was prompted by the
fact that the larger city has been com
ing ahead while the latter has gone
back.
CYR CLEARED OF
MURDER PARTNER
PRINCE GEORGE, Can., Jan. 21 (£>)
—Fred Cyr was acquitted yesterday
of the murder of his partner, Alex
Ducharme, a pioneer trapper at Chilco
Lake, last November. Cyr admitted
that he killed Ducharme but claimed
that he acted in self defense.
Nels Anderson, well known contrac
tor of this region was a local arrival
last night from Moose Pass. Mr. An
derson is at the Seward hotel.
Nels Olson, oldtimer from the Fair
banks district, was numbered among
those who arrived in town last even
ing. Mr. Olson is a guest at the Hotel
Seward.
CHICAGO SLAYER
TAKEN AFTER
LONG CHASE
NINETEEN YEAR OLD BRIDE AC
COMPANIED MURDERER IN
HIS WANDERINGS
CHICAGO, Jan. 2,1 (£>)—'The arrest
yesterday of Martin Durkin, who killed
Edward Shanahan, a government
agent October 11, and shot his way
out of a police trap a fortnight later,
killing Sergeant Gray and wounding
two others, culminated yesterday
when a chase from country side to
country side resulted in his capture.
The pursuers were often only a day
behind Durkin.
After his capture yesterday on a
train between St. Louis and Chicago,
Durkin, despite the shackles on his
wrists and ankles, reached around his
19-year-okl bride, who was arrested
with him, and tried to seize a guard’s
pistol. The bride is the daughter of
a village blacksmith of Cornell, 111.
Durkin, after killing Gray, assumed
feminine garb, powdered his nose, and
went to New York city. He returned
to Chicago December 2, and later
went to Cornell where the couple
eloped to St. Louis and were married
the groom going under the name of
James Durkey.
The young couple went to Los An
geles, where they stole an automobile
from the salesroom of a Hollywood
dealer, drove to Pecos, Texas, where
they burned out a bearing, later aban
doning the car and taking a train for
San Antonio, tried to get into Mexico.
He fooled the sheriff at Pecos, Texas,
with a story of being a deputy from
California.
Arriving at San Antonio they found
the border watched and took a train
for St. Louis. A Federal agent tele
graphed ahead and the pair were ar
rested on the train.
While but a young man Durkin is
acknowledged to be one of the most
fearless and desperate of Chicago’s
gunmen.
NEW COMPANY
APPLIES FOR
U. S. VESSELS
BID OF PUGET SOUND ORIENTAL
LINE ASKS BOATS BE
TRANSFERRED
SEATTLE—Application for assign
ment of the vessels now being oper
ated by the American Oriental Mail
Line between Seattle and the Orient
has been placed with the United
States shipping board by the Puget
Sound Orient Line, organized recently
by filing articles of incorporation at
Olympia.
Incorporators of the company are
Moritz Thomsen, H. F. Ostrander, W.
C. Dawson, Charles E. Peabody, Wor
rail Wilson, J. H. Fox, P. E. Harris,
Wm. Calvert and A. W. Leonard. It
is capitalized at §500,000, all of which
has been subscribed according to
Thomsen.
“We do not intend to buy the ships,
but I understand that the shipping
board does not desire to do business
with the Dollar interests any longer.
The board has called for new bids
and unless the vessels will be assign
ed to some oher agency. We expect to
Jje that agency and will be prepared
to take over the operation of the
fleet.”
J. C. Koerner of Chicaago found an
abandoned baby in an empty radio
cabinet on the porch of his home.
Clara II., a prize cow, died in Lon
don of lead poisoning just after she
had been sold for $4,500.
WEST COAST PRODUCERS
DEVELOPING RADIO PLAY
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20. (£>)—
Experiments and study of the techni
que of the radio drama, conducted sys
tematically over a period of months
on the air and in the laboratories of
the Pacific Coast, have created a craft
manship that promises interesting de
velopment of this form of theatrical
entertainment.
Like the motion picture, the radio
play has given birth to a new art as
the principles of a successful micro
phone performance are distinct—un
like those involved in the writing or
presentation of a stage or screen pro
duction.
pit j iMTDnmirrn
DILL nilHV/S/lAjUl/
TO LEASE LANDS
FOR FUR FARMS
FARMERS HAVING ISLANDS NOT
OVER THIRTY SQUARE MILES
MAY GET LONG LEASE
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 21 (£>)—
Representative Sinnott of Oregon in
troduced a bill in Congress today pro
viding for the extensive leasing of
the public lands of Alaska for fur
farming. The leases are limited to
640 acres and are limited to twenty
years duration.
Leases may be obtained on islands
covering not over 30 square miles.
SKIPPER ADMIRAL
LINE IN SERVICE
OVER 40 YEARS
CAPTAIN JAMES BURNS, EARLY
DAY ALASKAN NAVIGATOR;
NOW AT SEATTLE
While in his teens and rambling on
the docks of Liverpool, possessed of
a longing to go to sea, Capt. James
Burns dreams were made a reality.
But not in the regular way for he
found himself shanghaied aboard an
English East India merchantman sud
denly called upon to put to sea and
shorthanded.
That experience paved the way for
Jimmy Burns’ maritime career, the
past forty years of which he has spent
in service on the Pacific and in this
vicinity. Today he is rated as one of
the most expert Puget Sound pilots
and is employed exclusively in that
capacity by the Admiral line. He is
skipper of the tug Warrior of this ser
vice as well.
James Burns was born in Ireland in
1867. He has been active in Pacific
waters since 1895, most of that time
between Puget Sound and Alaska and
latterly in local waters. He put in
two years on the Yukon river and
for a number of years acted as mate
and iplot of such vessels as the Dol
phin, Cordova, Queen, Admiral Nichol
son, Admiral Rogers and others.
CARDINAL MERCIER
AT POINT DEATH
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Jan. 21 (£>)—
Cardinal Mercier resigned himself to
death today, but continued to ignore
the pleadings of his physicians to re
fuse to receive visitors. Mercier told
Queen Elizabeth that he would not
recover, and she said, “Your life is
indispensable to us.”
Mercier replied, “it is less indis
pensable than your majestty’s gracious
smile.”
What is thought to be the world’s
largest chrysanthemum is now bloom
ing at Osaka, Japan, and has 165 blos
soms.
SUTHERLAND BILL
WOULD BUILD
WHARF JUNEAU
WOULD IMPROVE TOLOVANA
AND SURVEY HARBOR
AT NOME
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 21 (JP)—
Delegate Sutherland introduced bills
appropriating $29,000 to improve the
Tolovana River; $22,500 to build a
wharf at Juneau; also bills to author
ize a survey of the Nome harbor, Port
Frederick, Portage Bay, Anchorage,
Dry Pass, Sitka Harbor, Gastineau
Chaannel, Cordova Harbor.
The Portage Bay survey is intended
to provide a harbor for the Cold Bay
oil district.
GAME PLENTIFUL
REPORTSURVEY
BIOLOGISTS FIND AMPLE GAME
FOLLOWING INVESTIGATION
OF BONNIFIELD
Warden Frank' Dufresne and Biolo
gist William B. Miller of the U. S.
Biological Survey returned to Fair
banks last week says the News Min
er of last week. The men toured the
Bonnifield district where they inves
tigated game conditions and forage.
Conditions were good beyond expec
tations they report. The sheep hills
are bare of snow and numerous fur
animals were found. Lynxes also are
plentiful. A spirit of co-operation
among the residents of the district
making control of hunting a simple
matter is lauded by the officials. Li
censing has met with entire favor,
they say.
Reports that wolves are a menace to
the game of the Bonnifield section is
refuted by Warden Dufresne, who
states that he could find little trace
of them throughout the entire district
covered by the survey.
FUR PLENTIFUL
IN INTERIOR
TfflS WINTER
ENCOURAGING REPORTS RECEIV
ED BY FAIRBANKS PAPER
OF FUR CONDITIONS
Reports reaching local Federal offi
cials of the Fourth division indicate
that fur is plentiful in the interior
districts this winter. Especially en
couraging reports have come from the
upper Tanana’, Eagle and Circle dis
tricts where lynx are indicated to be
in greatest prevalence. Pelts are in
excellent condition owing to a bounti
ful supply of rabbits the principal
food of the carnivorous fur bearer.
Coyotes are increasing at an alarm
ing rate the reports indicate and are
rapidly encroaching on the lower river
on the Tanana, and some have been
caught as far south as Richardson. It
has only been a matter of three or
four years since coyotes were first dis
covered on the upper Tanana where
they had migrated from the Canadian
side.
At the request of a dancing instruc
tress who died recently in Paris, 50
ballet girls danced at her funeral.
Mrs. P. D. Davis, of Tampa, Florida,
who divorced her husband for intem
perance remarried him 25 days later.
Sir Bruce Porter, noted London phy
sician, recommends tickling babies to
make them laugh and expand their
lungs.