438 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



the prisoner would be let off with a small fine and light sentence, which 

 was done by the district attorney stating that a fine of $50 and twenty- 

 eight months' imprisonment would be satisfactory. 



As soon as he was sentenced he was taken from his cell to the grand 

 jury room to testify against his former employer and superior officer, 

 ex Marshal Porter, and he actually did testify to Porter's having em- 

 bezzled or stolen a sum of money from the Government, sent from the 

 Department of Justice by check, amounting to some $1,120.32, which 

 amount was part of the money drawn by Deputy Myers from the 

 Department during the temporary absence of the marshal, and for which 

 he had just been convicted. 



And yet, on testimony of that sort and from such a source, ex-Marshal 

 Porter was indicted by the grand jury of Alaska for embezzlement. He 

 was approached in my presence by the district attorney as a friend, 

 and asked to acknowledge that the Government owed the money to the 

 marshal's office, or to be disgraced in his old age by an indictment by 

 the grand jury. 



Porter answered that he would die before he would consent to rob 

 the Government, and the next day he was indicted. 



LIQUOR AND SMUGGLING. 



Liquor cases were called and disposed of with the regularity of clock- 

 work, and always with the same result; the witnesses were Indians and 

 half-breeds, the prisoner was a white man, and his friends and chums 

 were in the jury box to acquit him. 



"Can you render a verdict according to the law and testimony," said 

 ttie judge to a man who was being sworn as a juror. "I can," said the 

 fellow, "unless the testimony is that of an Indian." 



The testimony of Indians is not valued in Juneau, although many of 

 them are brought in here as witnesses, and supported at the expense of 

 the Government. 



Within sight of the court-house were 30 public saloons open and 

 doing a public business, some of the more pretentious ones keeping 

 open house all night, and there was not a Government officer in Juneau 

 who could be found to interfere with them. 



On one technicality or another it seems the laws are not sufficiently 

 explicit to make it the plain duty of any particular officer to raid a 

 saloon without the cooperation of other officers, who are, as a rule, not 

 on hand when wanted. 



Speaking to a customs officer at Juneau, I said, u How on earth do 

 you account for the existence of so many saloons in Juneau, and many 

 larger ones in course of erection, if you men do your duty?" To which 

 he replied, u Mr. Murray, I know you are justified in asking such a 

 question, but you do not know anything about the real situation here 

 or you would not blame me personally. When I first came here I was 

 zealous and watchful, and I raided a smuggler's den and captured 

 some 10 barrels of liquor, but what was the result? The district attor- 

 ney came into court and moved to have that smuggler discharged on 

 paying a fine of $50." 



Meeting the district attorney, I asked him for his side of the story, 

 and he said, " Yes, I did let the fellow go on a small fine, for I found 

 that because he was not in the inner circle of smugglers and vendors 

 he had been selected as a victim and his whisky seized, taken to the 

 custom-house, and sold at private sale to one of the inner ring for less 

 than one third its real value." 



