Call in Pinkerton's: American Detectives at Work for Canada by David Ricardo Williams

Author:David Ricardo Williams [Williams, David Ricardo]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: History, General, Canada
ISBN: 9781550023060
Google: 0EyBIQfovcEC
Goodreads: 4840441
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 1998-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior.

NAC PA 27943

On May 22, 1902, Fred White, in a memo to Clifford Sifton, disclosed that since January he had “had four men working, confidentially, between San Francisco, Seattle, Skagway and Whitehorse in connection with the Order of the Midnight Sun,” and had received reports from all of them; one of these men, R.G. Chamberlin, was at the very moment of his writing in “close touch” with a Pinkerton detective who was interviewing Clark.25 In addition to Chamberlin, White also instructed Superintendent Charles Constantine, who had headed the Yukon Division when first established, to investigate the Order; he, as well as Chamberlin, consulted Pinkerton’s. The remaining two investigators were J.H. Seeley, whose motives were questionable, as exemplified by the large bills he sent in for his services. A protégé of Inspector Starnes, he became a thorn in the side of everyone else. He had travelled up and down the coast as far south as San Francisco and became convinced that the sinking on August 15, 1901, of the CPR vessel The Islander, with heavy loss of life, was caused by an “infernal machine” placed on board the vessel at Skagway by one of the conspirators of the Order. White became so exasperated by Seeley’s demands for money that finally he instructed Z.T. Wood, the assistant commissioner at Dawson, to make the best deal he could with Seeley and be done with him.

Throughout all the dealings concerned with the Order and the later investigations, A.P. Sherwood of the Dominion Police was kept advised. And he asked a friend, E.F. Drake, who Sherwood described as an “ardent Britisher” to undertake an undercover investigation.26 Drake was motivated only by his close friendship with Sherwood and, entirely at his own expense (except for seventy-five dollars run up in various bars while ferreting information), travelled from Ottawa to Whitehorse, Skagway, Seattle, and San Francisco, and thence back to Ottawa, handing in to Fred White a comprehensive report of his activities.27 He concluded that the conspiracy had at one time been real enough and was not a mere newspaper “fake,” but was now “dead.” Drake reported that, though rumours had it that Clark and Grehl had raised as much as $30,000 to forward the aims of the Order, the actual amount was closer to $10,000 but, in any case, was all spent. The Order never enjoyed any support “south of Skagway” and what support there was came from “Skagway people” who were worried that any new arrangements for the Alaska boundary would work to their commercial disadvantage, and “from the restless dissatisfied element always to be found in a new mining country.” Drake’s was a sensible appraisal, in keeping with the reports by Superintendent Constantine and R.G. Chamberlin.

Constantine was dispatched to the Yukon where he was to assume nominal command of the Whitehorse Police District. Though his function was essentially military, and, it was hoped, short term only, his arrival, not surprisingly, caused considerable upset among the other superintendents already in the Yukon who felt slighted.

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