204 FUK-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



William E. Gavitt remains iu charge of St. George until he boards 

 the steamer St. Paul, August 9, 1888, en route for Bvausville, Ind., on 

 "a leave of absence." 



Then he is succeeded by Capt. A. P. Loud, who has been living on this 

 island of St. George with him all summer (as his assistant), and who 

 then takes up the journal for the first time. All entries up to date of 

 August 10, 1888, are in Gavitt's handwriting and name, as the assistant 

 agent in charge of the island. 



Captain Loud commences his first service as assistant agent in charge, 

 on page 174, by making an uniutroduced entry of the following letter 

 of George E. Tingle. [I am obliged to coj)y it verbatim et literatim.] 



[Extract copied from United States Treasury agent's journal, St. George Island, by the author, p. 174.] 



St. Paul Island, Alaska, Aug. 10, 1888. 

 Capt. A. P. Loud, 



Assistant Treasury Agent in charge of St. George Island. 



Sir : in the matter of the cliarge.s and complaints of Wm. Gavitt, Assistant Treasury 

 Agent against the Alaska Commercial Cos. Employees on St. George Island as spread 

 on the Journal in the Treasury Agents office, and as Set forth to me in his letter 

 of 3d June on lile in this Office I have to say that I made au exhaustive investigation 

 into the whole matter coni))lained of to me taking the sworn statement of those per- 

 sons who had wintered on the Island with Mr. Gavitt as well as his own statement: 

 The affidavits of Dr. C. A. Luts, Daniel Welister and Eugene Kirk disproves wholly 

 all the charges made by Mr. Gavitt, whilst the recital to me l>y Mr. Gavitt, himself 

 on the occasion of my visit to St. George Island on 30th ulto, only strengthened the 

 St.atement of Others and len ves him iu the unenviable positiouof having been the main 

 cause of disturbing the harmony and personal friendly re latiouswhitch Existed amoung 

 the White peopel of the Station, whare I left him in charge one year ago. Many of 

 the things complained of and recorded liy Mr. Gavitt in the public journal improperly 

 are of a trivial nature not proper to be written in the Journal. I can only excuse 

 Mr. Gavitt's conduct in many things on the ground of ill health, in taking this 

 Extremely Charitable view I mast iu .Justice say that he manifested a dis])ositiou of 

 insubordination to his Superior Officer and was <iuarrelsome to a degree whitch became 

 unbearabel, many of the entries in his Journal are absolutely false and disgracefull 

 80 mutch so that I cannot refrain from i)lacing on record in the Journal this Letter 

 and thairfore ask you to Spread it iu full upon the .Journal With such additional 

 Endorsements by you whitch your associations and knowledge of Mr. Gavitt warrent. 

 (Signed) Geo. R. Tingle, Treasury Agent. 



I have been living in the house with Mr. Gavitt for the pjist sixty seven days and ' 

 am well acquainted with him. I have no hesitation to say that he is neither truthful 

 nor houerable and that his actions words and general behavior were a disgrace to 

 any man holding a position under our Government. 



A. P. Loud, 

 Ast. Treas. Agt. St. George Island, 

 Aug. — , 188-. 



In the clear light which the above-quoted extracts throw upon the 

 occupation and concern of these agents of the Treasury Department, 

 I wish to make an especial record of those particular reports made to 

 the Secretary of the Treasury, which, being utterly incorrect and mis 

 leading, gave infinite aid and comfort to the cause of the pelagic 

 hunters, and worked serious harm to the public interests of our Gov- 

 ernment. 



[The bogus ollicial report of 18S6.] 



Office of Special Agent Treasury Department, 



St. Paul Island, Alaska, July 31, 1886. 

 Sir: I herewith transmit my rejiort of the operations of the sea islands for the 

 past year and up to the close of this sealing season. 



Mr. Elliott embraced in his report of 1874 a measurement by him of the breeding 

 rookeries on this island, made July 10 to 18, 1872, since which time no measurement 

 has been made so far as the records of this office show. Deeming it of great importance 

 that the Department should be in possession of the best information as to the present 



