directing the attention of the Secretary of the Interior to the treatment of Father Duncan by the Bureau of Education: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Washington, D. C. CLERK'S OFFICE, JUNEAU, Ketchikan, Alaska, May 29, 1917. SIRS I have the honor to hand you herewith a copy of the final report presented by the United States grand jury at the special May 1917 term of this court, held at ketchikan, Alaska. Respectfully, J. W. BELL, Clerk, The following endorsement on this letter from the clerk of the court to the Department of the Interior shows how this important document was routed to the Bureau of Education, whose conduct the grand jury recommended should be investigated: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, July 2, 1917. Respectfully referred to the Commissioner of Education inviting his attention to suggestions in relation to Annette Island and the fishery reserve adjacent to the same. H. A. MEYER, Assistant to the Secretary. Notations on the copy of this report of the grand jury, sent by the great judicial branch of our Government to the Department of the Interior, show that it was marked "noted" with the constant telltale initials "C" and "WH", which appear on so many of the documents in this case, and that a copy of the report was sent to the Seattle office of the Bureau of Education, which was in charge of William T. Lopp. This serious complaint against the Bureau of Education presented by the Government's own grand jurors, under their solemn oaths, was never "looked into by the proper authorities" or referred by the Secretary of the Interior to the Department of Justice, charged by statute with "the detection and prosecution of crimes against the United States", including offenses involving malfeasance in office, such as these grand jurors had in mind when they made that return in open court. Instead of being sent to "the proper authorities" by the Secretary of the Interior to "be looked into", this serious charge vitally affecting the integrity of his own subordinates was in the most informal manner "referred" to the Commissioner of Education, who never "looked into" the matter. Upon the receipt of this important communication the Commissioner of Education did no more than treat the judicial branch of our Government with contempt by consigning the copy of its report to a quiet burial place in his archives, from which it was never resurrected, after a copy of it had been sent to William T. Lopp, Chief of his Alaska Division, who for several years had been engaged in vigorous and persistent attempts to put an end to Father Duncan's mission by a "strong dose of anti-Duncan dope", as he, himself, had frankly admitted. In other words, we have here an anomalous instance-one in which a complaint made by a Federal grand jury was sent, not to an unbiased and legally constituted tribunal for investigation and trial, but to the culprits named therein, who were left free to smother the charge or declare their own innocence; and that report was so completely ignored and covered up that the committee appointed by Secretary Work, on August 23, 1926, "to consider questions concerning the Metlakahtlans on Annette Islands" stated in its very voluminous report that the committee had not found any evidence "that the grand jury contemplated investigation of the activities of the employees of the Bureau of Education." Inasmuch as this committee's report was compiled from information and documents furnished to it by the Bureau of Education, it seems fair to assume that so vital and incriminating a document as the return of the grand jury was purposely withheld and kept hidden from the committee in order to shield the culprits and avoid the possibility of an order for an investigation, or perhaps a condemnation of the Bureau of Education, by Secretary Work, to whom the committee made its report. SECTION 59. "LEST WE FORGET" Because of the policies of the Department of the Interior, the trustees under the last will and testament of Father Duncan have been hampered, hindered, and delayed in the execution of their trust, which they have always been and are now ready to perform. The warnings of statesmen and others have gone unheeded; and, in addition, evidence of the outrages at Metlakahtla has apparently fallen on deaf ears, and we are yet to hear of any change of policy on the part of that Department in its conduct toward this Christian mission. As proof that the wrongs of the past are condoned and are, therefore, evils which have not been uprooted, we point to the facts that the Department of the Interior still harbors mission wreckers, and that it has not announced disapproval of the outrageous acts and the long-established policy of vandalism, oppression, and suppression by which this Christian mission has been plagued. Inasmuch as officials of the Department of the Interior have for years spent the money of the taxpayers of America in attempting to snuff out the great beacon established by Father Duncan on the desolate shores of Annette Islands, and since such a condition is permitted to exist, we must frankly admit that the United States of America itself is in danger of losing its status as a law-abiding and law-enforcing Christian nation and is already, through the acts of misguided officials of the Government, on the highway to national decadence. When those entrusted with temporal authority ignore their oaths of office and forget their God, the nations they represent invite the fate of the once great Babylon and the proud cities buried in the dust of centuries, whose godless officials passed unheeded the warning of the prophet (ISAIAH 13:21-22) that "their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there." Verily, the time is already come at Metlakahtla for "the wild beasts of the islands" to "cry in their * * * houses" which are being made "desolate" under the doctrine that "might makes right." When Christian missions can be illegally seized and unlawfully held with impunity in America, the time will have arrived to vision another shipwreck along the shores of time— CHAPTER VI. DEATH OF WILLIAM DUNCAN SECTION 60. THE PASSING OF THE APOSTLE OF ALASKA The last days and passing of Father Duncan. Natives request burial of Father Duncan at Metlakahtla. Funeral services at the Metlakahtla Christian Church. Expressions of sorrow, veneration, and love. Father Duncan's last letter. Animosities of Bureau agents extend beyond the grave THE LAST DAYS AND PASSING OF FATHER DUNCAN It was in the early morning of Friday, August 30, 1918, that Father Duncan succumbed to the wicked onslaughts of his covetous and scheming enemies, and with a broken heart breathed his last in his modest cottage home in Metlakahtla, Alaska. According to medical opinion, Father Duncan died with a broken heart superinduced by the great sorrow and severe strain of the troubles which were so wrongfully and cruelly heaped upon him in his advanced years. Scores of letters and statements of representative natives of Metlakahtla and their testimony have been available to those who have advised the Secretary of the Interior, that would prove the falsity of every accusation made by the plotters against Father Duncan and his mission. As one of the many touching instances of the loyalty and devotion of the representative natives of Metlakahtla to Father Duncan, the following is quoted from the unpublished writings of Mrs. Matilda W. Minthorn: REMINISCENCES OF METLAKAHTLA (From an unpublished manuscript by Mrs. Matilda W. Minthorn) To a very remarkable extent the natives had given their wholehearted affection and loyalty to Mr. Duncan. During the last year of his life six men agreed together to form a bodyguard for his protection and comfort after the evening service on Sunday night at the church. It was not an uncommon thing to see these six men accompanying him to his home. Always there was one on either side of him, while the rest walked close behind them. During the season when many of them were away from the village at the fishing grounds, or out after wood or logs, some one or more of the six were always at home and ready to accompany him on a stormy day as he went out, and especially after an evening service. There was one Sunday evening when the winter storm was so fierce that every person in the village decided that there would be no service at the church, for no one would venture out in such a storm. One of the bodyguard, however, felt uneasy and announced to his family that he would go down to the church and along the way over to Mr. Duncan's house to make sure that he was all right. This man found Mr. Duncan, on his way to the church, clinging to a fence for support, since the force of the wind was sufficient to blow him off from the walk into the ditch. This strong man in his prime, with tender heart and gentle and kindly arm, drew Mr. Duncan to safety and saw him at last within his own cottage door. He said of it afterward: "My sleep was very quiet that night, for I was well assured of Mr. Duncan's safety. If I had not gone out to look after him I would have been restless and uneasy until morning." The death of this great and good man was fittingly announced by the Alaska Pioneer, published at Ketchikan, Alaska, in its issue of August 31, 1918, as follows: Father Duncan is dead. This was the sad news received yesterday, August 30, by hundreds of citizens who had known Father Duncan in his lifetime. Many of us had known this worthy man for many years, and none knew him but to love and revere him. * Think what Father Duncan has done. The good he has accomplished. Today Metlakahtla is inhabited by an educated people who but a few short years ago were in a savage state. * But the last few years of Father Duncan's life were lived in sorrow. He felt that he had been ruthlessly torn from his people * While it was true that the burden of years were upon him, he felt that he should have been let alone to finish his life's work. Of this we know so little that we cannot comment, but sure it is that when Father Duncan was set aside and strangers sent in to take his place, his heart was broken, and this fact, more than any other, hastened his death. Dr. Henry J. Minthorn, a well-equipped and highly efficient physician, and his wife, Mrs. Matilda W. Minthorn, both of whom were ordained ministers of the Friends Church, and both with large experience in mission work, had for a long time been Father Duncan's helpful assistants and were with him when the end came. The happenings of the last days, the passing, and the funeral and burial of Father Duncan will be told here in excerpts from records made at the time by intimate friends, who had personal knowledge of the events. Mrs. Minthorn at that time noted the passing events from day to day in her carefully prepared diary and also later recited them in her manuscript entitled "The Last Hours of William Duncan", which will hereafter be mentioned as her records and from which excerpts will be given without reference to the particular document from which they are quoted. Mrs. Minthorn stated that On Sunday, August 25, 1918, he [Father Duncan] preached in the morning from the Gospel of St. Mark, following the Gospel through from where he began on the first Sunday of the year, and in the evening he chose the lesson in the Book of Proverbs 2: 6-9.1 The natives who were present were much impressed with the message, and often speak of what he said in his last sermon about the heavenly home. Of Jesus Christ he said "Soon we shall all behold Him", adding after an impressive pause, "but I shall see Him first." On the previous Sunday, in the evening service, the low descending sun reached and lovingly touched his snow-white hair and saintly face as he knelt with it turned heavenward and offered the last prayer with the benediction that day. The sunlight threw a halo so marked about his kneeling form that we did not close our eyes but looked and worshiped and prayed that even so the grand life work of the faithful servant of Jesus Christ might end in peace. 1 The words of Father Duncan's last text, Proverbs 2:6-9: "6. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. "7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of His saints. "9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path." |