Digital Bob Archive

MARCH 1918 - PART 4:

Ever since the Treadwell cave-in, 1917, there has been discussion as to whether any lives were lost in that disaster. The matter was settled, at least to the satisfaction of a District Court jury, in mid-March. In the case of Mary Tassell vs. the Treadwell Gold Mining Company, the jury decided that Alex Tassell did die in the cave-in. There had been some doubt about the matter because of rumors that he had been seen above ground after the cave-in, but no witness came forward to state that Tassell had been seen during the past year. Mary Tassell had been married to Alex Tassell for 15 years and had four children, ages 3 to 15 years. She is now entitled to $3,000 plus $600 for each child.

Sam Kohn, a long time resident of Alaska and of Juneau, died on March 13 at the age of 71. He was born in Texas and came north to Wrangell in 1870. He mined on the Stikine River and in the Cassiar and first came to Juneau in 1881, settling here in 1886. In 1887 he made a trip \"below\" to visit relatives, and in 1917 a sister invited him to visit her in Wyoming. He didn't go; said he didn't want to get the habit of traveling too much. His wife, Johanna, who was born in Wrangell, died two years ago in the government hospital here. Sam was buried in Evergreen Cemetery with the '87 Pioneers conducting the service.

Checker matches for the Juneau championship were being played at the Alaskan Hotel. There were twelve men in the tournament, with five games being played in each match. Each game won counted two points. At mid-tournament, L. Kletzing was in the lead with 16 points, followed by J.D. Van Atta with 14, J.R. Stevenson and M. Melanton with 12 each, and J. Thibodeau with 9.

Word was received from Washington on March 20 that President Woodrow Wilson had signed a war measure that would require all clocks in the nation to be set ahead one hour on the last Saturday of March. The experiment had been tried in England, where it was known as daylight saving time and it was said to have resulted in the saving of an estimated 300,000 tons of coal.

Mrs. Allen Shattuck, Director of Home Economics for Alaska, returned from a national meeting in Washington, D.C., on the theme \"Home Conservation of Food.\" Mrs. Shattuck was making plans for carrying on educational work in home economics throughout Alaska and hoped soon to have a practical demonstrator visit every city in the Territory.

The Juneau Home Guard had signed up a total of 191 men by March 20. Sergeants in the organization were M.S. Perkins. J.F. Hurley, R. Young, Charles E. Naghel, B.A. Roselle, Walter Johnson and P.J.F. Boivin. Corporals were C.E. Cartwright, A.P King, D. Sweaton, E.F. Rodenburg, W.G. Johnson and C.B. Brandon.

E.R. Jaeger purchased the interest of J.H. King in the Juneau Steam Laundry. King, a former city councilman, was leaving Juneau because of the illness of his wife.