Digital Bob Archive

JUNE 1918 - PART 2:

A jury in U.S. Commissioner John Henson's court in Douglas decided that William Schwartzenburg was a failure as a home brewmaster and acquitted him on a charge of violating the Alaska prohibition law. Some 100 bottles of what was described as \"a muddy looking liquid\" had been seized in his basement. The jury declared that it was not an intoxicant, but declined to say what it was. Two of the jurors who sampled the stuff said it had left them with no appetite for lunch. Juneau druggist William E. Britt, called as an expert witness, said that with the instruments available to him he had been able to detect no trace of alcohol.

A meeting of the Juneau City Council deadlocked, as it often did under Mayor Emery Valentine. This time it was over a proposal to buy two pieces of property on the waterfront, just north of the City Dock, as a site for a float for fishermen. Both properties were needed for a satisfactory float, but one of them was controlled by Henry Shattuck, a Juneau businessman with whom Valentine had feuded since the days when they represented rival steamship lines. The mayor asserted that he had been elected by the people to prevent such a purchase and that he would go to court if the Council persisted. After an executive session, the Council voted unanimously to lease the property for five years with an option to buy.

Mayor E.E. Smith of Douglas and William E. Britt of Juneau were appointed enrolling officers for the U.S. Shipping Board. Their duties were to register applicants for jobs on United States ships, in every position from captain to cabin boy.

Sam Okilovich, president of the Juneau branch of the Serbian National Defense League, left with Red Mitrovich and lala Ziziich for Vancouver, B.C., enroute to the Serbian mobilization camp at Sussex, New Brunswick. There were said to be 500 men at the camp and they were to leave soon for the Macedonian front to fight for the liberation of Serbia and freedom for the Serbian people. They were the most recent of a large number of men from the Balkan countries, formerly employed at the Treadwell mines, who had returned to their homelands after war broke out in 1914.

Royal A. Gunnison, U.S. Food Administrator for Alaska and a District Judge in Juneau from 1904 until 1908, died at his home of apoplexy at 6 o'clock on the morning of June 15. In addition to his duties as food administrator, he was associated with Ralph E. Robertson in a Juneau law firm. He was survived by his mother, his wife and a son.

Ed Hurlbutt, Road Commissioner for the First Division, reported that the work of dredging the channel across the bar north of town was progressing favorably and that the new dredge employed on the job was working well. The project was to deepen the channel for 6200 feet across the summit of the bar, giving a minimum depth of three feet and 50 feet wide. The cost was to be $18,085.