ana suioci or mm
The Kusko Times
¥.011.11 NO. 5>7
McGrath, Alaska, august 10, 1921.
PRICE 25 CENTS
S. S. ALASKA HITS REEF
TRAVELING IN DENSE FOG
AND SINKS IN 20 MINUTES
Forty-eight Persons Believed to Have
Perished—Capt. Hobey Gives [Final
Orders and Says, ‘HI Go Down With
My Ship’—Great Work of S.S.Anyox.
Seattle, Aug.. 7.—Forty-eight
persons are believed to have
lost their lives when the Alaska
Steamship Company’s liner Alas
ka, which has been plying since
November, when it was with
drawn from the Alaska service,
between Portland!and San Fran
cisco, in a dense fog,, hit Blunts
Reef, off the Northern California*
ooast's ah IQ- o’clock Saturday
night.. The Alaska sank in less
than twenty minutes.
Twelve bodies-,were recovered;
and one hundred and sixty-six>
passengers and crew, were res
cued by the steamer* Anyox, Cap
* taimSnodney, of Eureka, Oil,.
Thirty-two passengers and1
four of the crew are still miss
ing.
Captain Harry Hobey, master
of the ship,..was without a life
preserver.
The Alaska was- bound from
Portland to San Ffanoisco. The
;
Anyox, formerly inthe Alaska
service, was bound, from! San
Francisco; for. Vancouver, and
had thebarge Henry Villard in>
tow, but rendered great service
in rescue work..
Capt. Hobey Says, “I Prefer to
Go Down With My Ship!” j
Eureka, Aug. Si—A number of the
Alaska’sJifeJboats were wrecked while
being, nut over, the vessel’s side, ac
cording/ to ©ye-witnesses. Many sup
vivors were reeoued by the Anyox
after they had floated about in the
water for several hours. A number
tell stories of lifeboats that leaked. J.
H. Moss and C. L. Vallim, both of Chi
cago, said they reached a lifeboat
which had been swept off the deck.
Other lifeboats, they declare, went
down with the ship. Moss tendered.
Hobey his own life belt, but Hobey re
lied: “I prefer to go down with my
ship.” _
Asked Everybody to Obey Orders
and to Keep Their Heads.
Eureka. Aug. 9.—‘‘I want everybody
to obey orders and to keep their heads.
I am groin? down with this ship, but if
you do what I tell you nobody will go
down but myself!” megaphoned Cap
tain-Hobey in bis command to passen
gers and crew after the liner struck
Blunts Reef. He perished.
Seventeen bodies have been recov
ered. Thirty-one are still missing.
Among the identified dead are the
following:. Thomas Johnson, Brooklyn;.
N..Hutchinson, of Pbrtlaad, chief stew
ard;. Charles Heane,- assistant-steward;
F. H. King and E. Bickall, passengers.
The Alaska’s boilers exploded after
she struck the reef,.and some, without
doubt, were killedi by the explosion.
Rescuers on the Anyax, owiDgl to the
density of the fog, had great difficulty
in finding the lifeboats and those float
ing in the water.
Notes of Disaster.
San Francisco.—S. A. Carlson, third
assistant engineer, admitted that the
AJaska was running full speed, despite
the fog. The eighteenth body, uniden
tified, was found today under Cape
Mendocino lighthouse.
Eureka. — About forty steamship
Alaska hospital cases are leaving to
night for San Francisco.
San Francisco.—The Federal investi
gation into the steamship; Alaska dis
aster is getting under way
Eureka—“I will not leave while
women are still aboard,'’ Thomas
Johnson, of Brooklvn. said to his wife
as he placed her in the third boat. “I
begged him to join me in the boat, but
he refused and went to his death,”
Mrs. Johnson weepingly explained.
Eureka—A coroner’s jury, holding
an inquest over one of the seventeen
bodies recovered, returned the simple
verdict, ‘‘Death by drowning and ship
wreck.”
Returns From Akiak.
Charles Nystrooi' returned here on
Monday evening from Akiak, to which
place he took Richard Berntesen to the
hospital there for treatment. Mr.
Berntesen was quite sick just before
arriving at Akiak, but was somewhat
improved at the time Mr. Nystrom
left, a day and a half later.
Confirmations Delayed.
Washington, Aug. 9.—The confirma
tions of Alaska judges, as well as other
appointments for Alaska, are nj»t ex
pected for another week.
War Over Silesia Might
Leave ‘World a Wilder
ness*’ Says the Premier
London, Aug. 8.—Lloyd George, in
the Commons tonight, warned that
Great Britain would not permit a war
over Silesia, which might precipitate
a conflict that would “leave the world
a wilderness, aDd man a gaunt wan
derer among the ruins of civilization.”
Contesting Dead Man's Millions.
Butte, Aug. 9.—That Mrs. Murray is
not the widow of the late James A.
Murray and was never married to him,
is the claim made by James E. Murray,
nephew of the deceased millionaire, in
court papers filed here today, resisting
her claim for a monthly allowance.
Another Seattleite Wants Job.
Seattle, Aug. 9.—Charles I. Miller
left today for Washington. He hopes
yet to secure appointment to an Alaska
judgeship.
MORE GRAFT
DISCOVERED
Surplus War Material
Diverted From Use
Intended.
Washington, Aug. 9. — That
millions of dollars’ worth of sur
plus war material which was
turned over gratis to different
States for road building has
beeu stolen has just been discov
ered bv Federal investigators.
Congress has been asked to
i investigate and an attempt will
be made to expose the grafters
!and recover at least a part of
the material.
End Wars and Turn
Attention of Mankind
to Beneficial Pursuits
Lancaster, N. H., Aug. 8.—President
Harding, in his address here, said that
the coming disarmament conference
gave promise of an international agree
ment that would end wars and turn the
attention of mankind to constructive
beneficial pursuits.
I -
Mrs. Von Bernstorff
Gets Back a Million
Seized During War
—
New York,. Aug. 8.—A nullum dol
lars in cash and securities seized from
her during the war was returned to
Countess von Bernstorff today on the
court showing that she had inherited
the money from her father, a silk mer
chant of this city.
MYSTERY OF
MRS. KATE
MAHONEY
! Trunk Containing Her
Mutilated Body Is
Recovered From
Lake Union.
i
Seattle. Aug. 9.—The body of
Kate M. Mahoney, wife of James
E. Mahoney, was found today,
stuffed in a trunk,, in the Lake
Washington canal, by the crew
of the tug Audrey.
The trunk floated after the
rope attached, holding it to the
bottom, had been cut by a sub
marine diver. The body had
been wrapped in rags and the
trunk apparently filled quickly.
A charge of murder was tiled
against Mahoney, who has been
held here pending the search,
accused of forging his wife’s
name to documents giving him
power of attorney to property
worth over a hundred thousand
dollars.
Mrs. Mahoney disappeared
about April 20, after having
been married about four months.
The fact that she had property
and other valuables worth over
a hundred thousand dollars; that
she was 72 years of age and
many years older than her
husband; that Mahoney was an
ex-convict—all these circum
stances pointed strangely toward
Mahoney as being the cause for
his wife’s disappearance. About
the same time he was identified
as having been connected with a
mysterious trunk occurrence at
Lake Union, the following up of
which resulted in today’s grue
some discovery.
Seattle, July 9.—Mahoney’s
only comment, when apprised of
the finding of the trunk contain
ing the body of his wife, was:
“They cannot do any more than
hang me.”
Movements of Ocean Boats.
Seattle, Aug. 9.—The ste&mer Vic
toria is due here on the 13th, and is
scheduled to sail again for Nome on
the 19th.
The freighter Valdez will depart in a
few days for Kotzebue.
The Maule, Amundsen’s ship, har
ing departed under sail from Dutch
Harbor, the Roossvelt will not be dia-'
patched. •
i