r up the
gold-dust which he had mined. Judge Noyes made an order merely staying
all proceedings in his court, and refused to make orders compelling
McKenzie to obey the writs and deliver the gold-dust to the appellants.

It became known that the receiver would attempt to withdraw gold-dust
which had been deposited in the vaults of the Alaska Banking and Safe
Deposit Company; and when McKenzie, in company with one of his
"friends," made the attempt, he found himself surrounded by a detachment
of the military and a number of the parties interested, together with
their attorneys. As he was about to walk out of the building, an
attorney stepped forward and stopped him, causing that remarkable person
for the first time to lose his head and nerve. It looked for a moment as
if there might be some gun-play, but this, fortunately, was avoided. All
this happened when the storm was at its height, the miserable streets of
the hybrid "city" knee-deep in mud, and when, without the semblance of a
harbor, and open to the clear sweep and fierce attack of the Arctic
gale, entire sections of the place were under water, and houses and
wreckage generally drifting about. It was an excellent background for a
dramatic incident.

The next step, therefore, was to proceed against McKenzie for contempt
of court. The time was very short; for communication with that country
ceases with the freezing of the sea, the latter part of October, and the
distance to the appellate court and return is about seven thousand
miles. At the last moment, just before we sailed, Samuel Knight (Yale,
'87), who, in behalf of the Wild Goose Company, had been fighting the
ring with great aggressiveness and skill, gave me, for his firm in San
Francisco, the papers on which to base proceedings for contempt of court
and arrest.

The storm and rain continued with unabated fury. It was impossible to
get away. All the steamers had either put to sea or sought for shelter
the lee of Sledge Island, to the northwest, and the shore was fast
becoming a scene of wreckage indescribable. Tugs, lighters, floating
piers, and all small craft lay tossed upon the beach. The sea was rising
higher all the time, and soon buildings were washed away, and the front
and lower part of the town were under water. All machinery which had
rested upon the beach was buried in the sand. The entire sand-spit where
we had first camped was washed by the surf. Lumber in great piles was
strewn all along the