Article January 3, 1901 Issue

How one Man Obeyed Conscience

John W. Griggs

The Great Round World

About one year ago a man named Burt Horton and his wife, Florence, left Skagway, Alaska, for a vacation trip. They had recently been married, and their journey was, in sense, a wedding tour. Procuring a boat and provisions, they set out from the Alaskan town to spend three weeks hunting, fishing, and, perhaps, prospecting for gold. The time they had fixed for their return passed by, but they did not appear. As the days slipped away it became evident to the people of Skagway that something had happened to the young couple. The apprehension was later verified; they were never again seen alive.

Last March, through the efforts of the Salvation Army, one "Jim" Hansen, a notorious Indian rough of Skagway, was converted to Christianity. He had long been regarded with terror by peacefully disposed people, and his personal record, while free from the evidences of crime, was dark with the suspicions of evil deeds that had never been discovered. By his conversion he became a good man. The truths of the Bible teachings sank deep into his heart, and, as is usual with simple people, his faith was very literal to him. No detail of conduct was too small to escape the test of his conscience; the life of religion became for him the one thing worth attaining.

"Jim" Hansen had hardly been converted when he sought out the Captain of the Salvation Army and bravely confessed to him that he, with ten other Indians, had murdered two whites—a man and a woman—on the Lynn Canal, near Skagway, some months before. He asked for advice, and the Captain told him that it was his duty to give himself up to the authorities. Without a protest Hansen went to the United States Deputy Marshal and told the story of the crime. The marshal got together a posse, and, guided by Hansen, went to the spot where the murder had been committed. There, under the snow, they found the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Horton.

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January 3, 1901
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