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Leo the orphan

In a previous blog on “Mollie” Mary Walsh on October 28, 2009, I mentioned that when Mike Bartlett, her husband, shot Mollie at 611 Pike Street in Seattle on October 27, 1902, he then tried to committed suicide. “The newspapers billed it as the trial of the century. The trial began in November of 1903 and concluded Dec. 2 of the same year. Mike was acquitted based on insanity. He spent two years in a mental facility and was released. Six months later, he killed himself.”

This left their 17-month old baby, Leo Bartlett an orphan. He may have gone to the Seattle Children’s home built in 1885, seen above.

Leo was born  on March 18, 1901, according to the Juneau Empire story:

“Mollie delivered her son 73 miles above Rampart while the boat was taking on wood from a large wood pile on the Yukon River. Mike spent the last of their money on a drunken party soon after the birth. After the party, Mike, in a drunken haze, told Mollie that the people on board had named their son Leon Edward Seattle No. 3 Yukon Woodpile Bartlett. This news ended their marriage.”

Leo kept his name, at least the Leo Bartlett part, and was a veteran of World War I. He lived in Hot Springs Arkansas in the 1940’s but died in the Old Soldier’s home in Washington D.C. in the 1950s.  Here is the Memorial number on the Washington D.C. Findagrave site: 21920233

Washington State death records online. Juneau Empire Nov 14, 2010.

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Edwin L. Pillman

Mr. Pillman was born in January 1862 in Canada. He and his wife Elizabeth and daughter Ethel lived in Skagway from 1898 until about 1901 and ran a grocery store and was also an undertaker.  When he moved to Atlin he also had a grocery store and a hearse which he would use to transport both fruits, vegetables and corpses. Some people objected to that though.

We photographed this little sign on a building there which says he had the first steam peanut roaster in Skagway in 1898. Who knew?!!! Wouldn’t one of these really add to the ambiance of Skagway in the summer?

 

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Thomas Frederic Harper Reed 1878-1965

Last weekend we went to Atlin, it was beautiful. Stayed at the Brewer’s Bay Chalet which, although clean and plain has a million dollar view of the lake and snow covered mountains. After walking around town in the rain, we visited the Atlin Cemetery and photographed this curious monument to Harper Reed, gentleman adventurer. Have not been able to find out anything more, if anyone knows, please leave a comment.

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William Payne Jackson

Captain Jackson arrived in Skagway on July 9, 1904 with the Third Infantry. He was the Quartermaster. He was born on Feb 11, 1869 in Palmyra, Missouri and went to West Point where he graduated in 1891. After serving in Skagway for a year, he married Julia Carr in Galesburg, Illinois (seen above – Julia looks a little wiped out here).

Jackson stayed in the Army becoming a Major General. In World War One he received the Army Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, as Brigade Commander, 74th Infantry Brigade, 37th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in operations against the enemy in France.

Brigadier General Jackson died on January 13, 1945 in San Francisco where he is buried.

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The Annual Bear Shoot

 


Two mornings ago I was walking to the gym at 5:30 am. It was dark and I was looking at the stars….suddenly a bear charged me . It was a terrifying experience, I screamed,  stumbled and fell, then got up and screamed some more. I focused on the 3-inch yellow claws but it was dark enough that I could not see its face, but I did see another bear behind it. I believe it was a Grizzly sow with cub and she had been eating garbage that was put out the night before. I unfortunately walked within a few feet of them and startled them which is why she charged me. She then turned and walked away.

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It was a perfectly predictable behavior on the part of the bear. I hold no anger against her but only sadness that eventually she and the cub will be shot as many others have been each fall. At this time of year they are trying to fatten up before winter and garbage is an easy food source.  The tragedy is that if this little community would invest in bear proof garbage cans for everyone, the problem would be greatly remedied.  I have had many people tell me that they are glad I am alive and that I am brave. I only acted as anyone would, but I am  grateful for the attention that this event has brought to our need for community action. I believe that our community has many good hearted people who would agree that the one time expense of buying the downtown households bear proof trash cans would be worth the cost and effort.

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Dr. Richard M. Allen

Dr. Richard M. Allen was in Skagway in the winter of 1897 as seen in the photo above. He is in the dark outfit leaning on the post. His descendent, Natalie Gohrband kindly allowed me to post this previously unseen family photo. Family lore says he died on a shipwreck at the Kuskokwim River in 1899, but it could have been on the Jessie which sank there in 1898. It was described in a book by Gordon Newell titled the Shipwrecks of 1899, so that may be the source of the confusion.

The Jessie swamped in turbulent water at the mouth of the Kuskokwim River on June 28, 1898. Rev. Welsh and 18 miners from the Columbia Exploration Company were believed to have been massacred by the Yupik Natives or lost in the wreck. One person, a trader called Ling survived and sent word to St. Michael of the shipwreck.

 

http://www.alaska.boemre.gov/ref/ships/2011_shipwr/2011_Shipwreck.pdf;

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Shipwreck at Long Bay

Long Bay, also known as Nahku Bay or Fortune Bay is between Skagway and Dyea. At extreme low tide there can be seen remains of the Bark Canada which, after a series of mishaps, sank in Long Bay in February 1898.

 

Originally the Bark Canada was  full-rigged ship launched at Bath, Maine on November 19, 1859. Built by John Larrabee, master builder for F.F. & J. Patten Company, ship builders. Her original dimensions were 179′ 6″ in length and 996 tons. She was probably buit for the cotton trade with England, as her fist voyage was to New Orleans.  In 1874, she was sold for $40,000 and San Francisco became her new home port.  She made numerous voyages up and down the west coast and at least three trips back to New York during this period. In 1887, she was listed as being cut down to a bark, a common practice of the day. By 1888 her home port was Tacoma Washington.

 

She left Tacoma in late January 1898 with a cargo of some 800,000 board feet of Puget Sound fir lumber, 400 bundles of shingles, 200 doors, 200 windows, a few wagons, a lot of miscellaneous building material, 200 horses, and an unknown number of passengers.  Much of the lumber was from the St. Paul nd Tacoma mill and was intended for the Chilkoot Railroad & Transport Company operating out of Dyea and for George Brackett’s wagon road that was being built up the White Pass.  She was loaded to capacity and was being towed up by the tug Pioneer with Fred C. Andrews, the captain.

 

It took two weeks to reach Skagway because of rough seas and stormy weather along the way.  She arrived inSkagway on Monday, Februray 14, 1898 and spent about a week in Skagway unloading part of her cargo before leaving for Dyea.  On the 19th while heading to Dyea a squall blew the vessel on the rocks. She was re-floated again only to be blown asore three days later.  She was described as stranded and a total loss on February 24, 898. The passengers and most of the cargo were saved but the 4 remaining horses had to be shot.

 

Alakashipwreck.com

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White Pass City saloons

 

Skagway had many saloons but it did not have the record of number of saloons per capita.
The most saloons per buildings was claimed by White Pass City, where it was said there were 17 saloons in a town that had only 16 buildings (one was “at large”). White Pass City was a community of sorts that was half way up the Trail of ’98, (the railroad path to the summit from Skagway).  Although now owned by the National Park Service, access is extremely difficult and must be done from the road. In the past 15 years it has been done only rarely and those being rangers sent there several years ago. They descended a steep cliff of about 2000 feet, crossed a treacherous raging river – bushwacking the entire way. They just don’t make rangers like those anymore……(Seth, Liz, Jim)!

from Alaska Hootch, the history of alcohol in early Alaska, by Thayne I. Anderson, online quoting Scott Dial “The Gold Rush Saloon”.

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George S. Black

Another Skagway Sleuth sent me this nice photo of the grave of George S. Black buried in Fairbanks at Birch Hill Cemetery, plot: Pioneer 2, tier: 2 , row: 7.

Here is the previous story in the blog on him:

http://www.skagwaystories.org/2011/09/george-s-black.html