Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 June 1901 — DUPED BY A CONVICT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DUPED BY A CONVICT

Lured Eleven Men to Death by a False Tale of Gold In Alaska. *.*• *.*•

This story has to do with a conviet whose villainous ingenuity in wearing 4 plot which worked his liberty made orphans of no fewer than a dozen happy children and widows of half aa many contented wives. Seldom have the consequences of any one man’s act been more farreaching in disastrous results, says the Chicago Inter Ocean. He spread misery everywhere. To say nothing of the dead, he sent sorrow into a score of homes and brought into the lives of men and women grief and heartaches which will cease only in the grave and with the wielding of broken circles in the world beyond. And in the light of subsequent events it seems his treacherous cunning contemplated murder most foul, the seizure of a ship and flight to the faraway shores of inhospitable Siberia, a criminal's paradise. In the furtherance and execution of his diabolical plans Stevens fplain George

Stevens; that is his name) took into good account the love of men for gold. In the dark recesses of his prison cell and from his inventive and rascally brain he evolved a scheme and a tale of a great gold find in the unexplored regions of Alaska which, as he afterward admitted, existed only in his wicked imagination. In short, the story was concocted out of whole cloth. He did not stop to think of the consequences. Some years ago Stevena tripped In his crooked career and fell into the clntches of the law which he had sc long defied as smuggler. The judge sentenced him to ten years’ imprisonment in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla. In the round of events political J. F. Addleman and O. D. Butterfield were appointed chief and deputy turnkey, respectively, at Walla Walla. As such they had the handling of convict mail, which included the careful reading of every letter before delivery to the prisoner to whom it was addressed. One day a missive for Btevens came. It was a decoy letter, it now seems certain. Some one sent the letter, and unquestionably at Stevens’ instigation, from San Francisco. In it, as Butterfield and Addleman subsequently related to their friends, the writer besought Stevens to Impart information he was supposed to possess concerning fabulously rich gold diggings on the upper reaches of a nameless tributary of Kotzebue sound. The fictitious personage submitted a proposition to employ Stevens as.a guide. Butterfield and Addleman fell into the plot. The scheme worked charmingly. They saw a chance to avail themselves of the opportunity of getting in on the ground floor, as it were, of a fabulously rich placer discovery. At all events, they set on foot a movement to secure Stevens’ pardon at the hands of ths governor of the state, having first secured a promise from the man that he would direct them to the find which their convict friend assured them gave promise of richness far greater than the Klondike. Stevens was told that he would receive a substantial share of the profits of the venture. The pardon application was made and granted, and in the spring of 1898 Stevens walked out of prison a free man.

It took but a short time to organize the expedition. Stevens was made a member; likewise his 14-year-old son Edward. Butterfield, already possessed of a small fortune, put up the bulk of the money. It was a well equipped expedition. No more complete outfit in all the history of the northland rush for gold ever left Seattle. It sailed out of the harbor under the most favorable auspices. Few stranger tales of the sea are recorded than that of the little schooner Loyal, which sailed from Seattle May 1, 1898, with the Butterfield party. Like the ill fated Elk expedition, the Loyal carried 13 people. They had ’ the same destination Kotzebue sound. Both reached those inhospitable shores. Neither returned. While the Bens people fell victims of scurvy and died on the trail, the fearless men of the Loyal went down in the deep. Their fate seems certain now that it is known that the Loyal net sail from 8t Michael’s on Sept. 30 of last year and has not reached port. For a long time it was thought probable that the Loyal had been hemmed in by the ice of Bering sea, that her expedition passed the winter ia

the far north, bat the return of St Michael's steamers with no new* of the long missing craft warrants the assertion that the little boat waa wrecked or sunk, carrying all on board down with her. They were not far oat at sea when Stevens gave signs of unrest He was 111 at ease; he was mysterious; he waa quarrelsome. There was a daring reck- * less ness in his every movement The ' men became bold, fearless and abusive. HU shipmates regarded his conduct with awe. It became whispered about that Stevens was armed. There were greater , anxiety and fear, but for that matter, all carried weapons. Nevertheless the me- ’ jority of men aboard the Loyal feared Bteven§. They were auapidoaa of him. * Some went ao far aa to declare that the man had concocted a scheme to murder ell on board and, with his son and per- . haps an accomplice, flee with the schoon- . er to Siberia. A meeting was held aboard the craft, ' at which it was agreed that all should * disarm, giving their weapons to Batterfield, who said he would pat them under * lock and key. It was dona, but Steveaa « did eo under protest. In fact, he was practically forced by superior numbers to surrender his firearms. Bven then he was quarrelsome. A desire to kick up a disturbance, even mutiny, seemed to poe- fl sess him. Things became so unbearable 1 that on reaching Dutch Harbor three J members of the expedition—Petty, Petti- | bone and Curtis—actually left the Loyal. J From Dutch Harbor on matters were not improved. Still the Loyal sailed on, 1 but as they were entering Kotseboe J sound Stevens boldly made a dean breast m of his duplicity, as several members of 1 the party afterward wrote. He, with ’ bresennees, declared that he had never been in that section of Alaska before and that he knew of no rich diggings on the nameless tributary of the Kotzebue or any other part of Alaska. Chagrined at his rascality, Butterfield end Addieman pat Stevens and his son ashore on Kotzebue, gave them ample supplies for the winter end told them to hustle for themselves. This done, the remaining members of tbs party turned the Loyal's bow south and made for St. Michael’s. They remained around the island for some George Sheehan, long a member *i the Seattle police force, returned a few days , ago from the Yukon. He seya the vsessi. j having taken on four or five passengers I in addition to the remaining eight or nine. , members of the expedition, sailed from j St. Michael's Sept. SO. Sheehan is the j last man living to have talked with But- J terfield, for the Loyal nevsr retched port. J There is a lingering suspicion in the! minds of many friends and relatives otM the missing men that ex-Convict Btevenfl may have managed some way to vengeance on those who remained the Loyal. He and his son, after put ashore at Port Clarence, made thelH way to Sti Michael's end were when the Loyal sailed. They disappear-M ed a few days later and have not been ' seen since.

MABOONED.