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Entered as secona-ciasa matter Au
jJjst 29th, 1928, at the postoffice at
fpkotna, Alaska, under the Act of
March 3, 1879.
Takotna. .Alaska,. November 29, 1930.
INQUEST''FAILS TO SUPPORT
MURKER THEORY IN PASSING
of McCarthy mining man
Howard D. Foster, whose dead
aody was found September 22 in a
cabin on Dan creek, 20 miles from
McCarthy, came to his death by his
own hand, according to the findings
of a coooner's jury which investigat
ed the case under the direction of U.
Si Commissioner E. E. Chamberlain
U. S. Attorney W. N. Cuddy, Assist
ant U. S. Attorney Leroy Sullivan,
and other federal officials.
When the death was first reported
the McCarthy commissioner and a
squad of men went to Dan creek and
proceeded to hold an' iijquest.' They
found Foster stretched 6ut in a bunk,
with both arms up in fr6nt of his face
as if to protect himself, one hand on
his face, hiding his nos^ and one eye.
and the other hand above him. Near
•■lie collar bone cm ■ the right side
i^erc was a. hullet wound and the
■Millet-later vaa found lodged against
tHe spine.
The body was found in a cabin be
longing to Lee Lancy and because of
that the investigators assumed the
dead man to be Yancy, notwithstand
ing the fact that several of those con
ducting the investigation knew both
Poster and YTancy and the further
fact that there was no resemblance
between the two men, Foster being
tijll and partially bald, and Yancy
being rather short. The finding of a
.32 revolver on a table 15 feet from
the bunk, with one cartridge explod
afl, convinced the jury that “Yancy"
had been murdered and a verdict of
murder was brought in.
. When Yancy learned that he had
b&en murdered by the jury he made
vigorous protest to the commissioner,
and that official decided to hold an
other inquest, which was done. This
time it was made certain that it was
Foster who was dead, but the second
jury was not so sure about the mur
der angle of the case. It was decided
that Foster shot himself in the side
and laid the gun on +he table and
then walked 15 feet to the bunk and
stretched himself out t<- die. No pov -
der stains could be. found on his white
shirt and there was no evidence to
show that he had moved after being
shot.
It was brought out that Foster had
been drinking before starting for Mc
Carthy in response to a request to go
to town to sign some mining papers.
He carried a small pa^R of provisions
when he started down the creek, and
when he reached the Yancy cabin at
the mouth of Dan creek he took pos
session of the place, in. the absence of
the owner, and prepared to, spend the"
night there, which is a musher’s priv
ilege on the trail. He cooked a meal,
using the provisions he had with him,
and the remnants of it, found on the
table, showed that he had eaten
■heartily.
As summed up by the' Cordova
Times, the most remarkable thing
about the scene of the shooting' Was
the absence of blood. None on - the
gun, none on the table, none about
the bunk, and none on Foster him
self. “If death had been instantane
ous,” the Cordova paper argues, “it
is possible that all the bleeding was
internal, into tthe chest cavity.' It
would have been virtually impossible
for Foster to have moved from the
time that he was shot until he died
unless he left a sign of blood. It
"would have been almost impossibl
for him to have shot himself, place-*
the revolver on ' the ' table and *r<
turned to the bunk without leaving
sign. Men who cofiterrfplate suicid*
do not, as a general"rule, shoot them
selves in the right side; they want to
be more certain of sudden death.' Men
with suicide in tjieir minds do not
usually eat heartily before death',
they are too morbid. And men who
commit suicide do not, as a general
thing, 'hold the weapon so far away
that it leaves no powder burns.
“Here are the reasons that the ver
dict of suicide was returned: The in
vestigators found that, the same gun,
with similar cartridges, left no pow
der marks, visible to the naked eye,
when fired six inches away from the
same shirt Foster wore. They con
cluded that the man could have put
the gun on the table and walked to
the bed without leaving a sign of
blood. All suspects had pretty good
alibis to offer. • Foster had been
drinking and might have been irra
tional. He had received notice that
there was no money forthcoming for
work done on the Westover claims,
£
!
t
f
w
Takotna Igloo Of
Pioneers
HEREBY EXTENDS INVITATION TO ALL
FRIENDS TO BE PRESENT AT A
Grand Ball
TO BE GIVEN ON
Wednesday Evening
December 24
TWO NIGHTS OF DANCING!
Come One, Come All!
A Good Time Assured
and might have been despondent. One
of the investigators put on a pair of
socks similar to those Foster wore
and walked from the table to the
bed, without showing signs of walk
ing except for a few slivers picked
up on the floor. They tried to prove
that it was suicide and succeeded. I
“The law can do very, little if men
who know something' about the mur
der of McCarthy Rose, Petri, Neu
mann and Foster are unwilling to
tell what they know, hut it is certain
that the more unsolved, there are the
more willing the people' will be to
tell.”
GAME WARDENS WILL
USE PLANES HEREAFTER
Extensive use of airplanes for pa
trol of Southeastern Alaska areas by
the Alaska Game Commission next
year is a strong- pobability, according
to H. W. Terhune, executive officei,
who returned recently to his Juneau
headquarters. The successful use of
a plane recently in the southern end
of the district, in wnieh a long-stand
•ing violation of the A.eska game iaw
was broken up, has convinced' the
-commission of the practicability •’ of
aerial patrols and of their effective
ness. The commission, in using the
'planes, expects to be able to cover
more territory and inspect it more
clqsely than by boat, 'Which is the ’
method now used.
“I am confidant we can break up
the activity of poachers who, taking
advantage of natural conditions, have
-been able to operate quite extensively
in some districts despite our most
strenuous efforts to break up illegal"
trapping. Due to their ‘inroads on
the beaver, it is not possible for the
'commission to open the beaver sea
son in Southeast Alaska at the same
time it will be thrown open in a Uni
ted way in other sections of the Ter
ritory in the near future,” Mr. Ter- j
liune said.
In some sections of "this division,
colonies of beaver have been wiped .
out by poachers, and the increase has
been very limited in the past two
years, it was said. By using planes,1
Mr. Terhune pointed out, it will not
be difficult to locate all' trappers and !
observe their operations.'
It is not unlikely that all trap dines
in the Territory will be registered in
the future, Mr. Terhune said. Dur
ing his ecent visit to Prince Rupert
and Vancouver he conferred with
game officials of British Columbia
relative to the success of the plan in
that province. He found that it. had
worked out to the utmost satisfaction
both to the government and trappes,
and he will submit the plan to the
Alaska Game Commission at its an
nual meeting, this month.
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