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comfortable about a case where any of the truth has to be suppressed, no matter how kind and good the motives of reticence may be. have been. But since we still feel that the unpleasant controversies started by Mr. Noice have been sufficiently (if not too extensively) noticed in the body of the book, we are placing this chapter in the appendix.

Although not needed, There has been put upon us still further compulsion not to attempt shielding Ada, Blackjack by our silence from what blame she may suffer in the eyes of those readers of Knight's [xxadx] diary who do not temper their justice with charity and who forget the stress of the extraordinary conditions under which the party found themselves. If we did not tell the whole story now we might be accused later of having suppressed it rather through fear than kindness and might expect a newspaper "exposure” from the same quarter whence have come the other charges against the ability, judgment and character of the four men and the one woman of Wrangell Island. Bor on March 29, 1924, Mr. J. I. Knight received from Mr. Noice a letter and a typed manuscript which seemed to be a copy of a proposed newspaper or magazine article and was apparently intended to convince Mr. Knight as well as the general public that his son had been the victim of "a grim tragedy which could have been averted” by Ada Blackjack. The article did not convince Mr. and Mrs. Knight of any such thing, for they had before them the diary of their son and they had had Ada Blackjack in their home for a week, forming a very high opinion of her. But it did further convince them and all of us who are associated with the Wrangell Island expedition that every pertinent passage in the diary of Lorne Knight must be published that has

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anything to say about Ada Blackjack. This has become more necessary since we have recently been able to verify the fact that a manuscript substantially the same as that sent to Mr. Knight has actually been submitted by Mr. Noice to certain newspapers for publication. We have not learned that there has been any publication, for the material appeared to at least some of the papers (for instance, the Toronto Star) to be of a nature which they did not care to print whether it were true or not. We are fearful, however, that other journals less scrupulous may be found later.

If Mr. Noice in his printed statements and in his manuscripts sent to Mr. Knight and to the press based his charge of the "grim tragedy that could have been averted" solely upon things which either occurred or were alleged to have occurred shortly before the death of Lorne Knight, the matter could be dealt with briefly. shortly He seeks his motive for the alleged crime, however, in diary entries scattered throughout the two years but especially in those for October to December, 1921, a year and a half before the tragedy. He evidently wants his readers to infer that here we have the causes for a treasured anger which resulted more than a year later in Ada’s refusing "to aid E. Lorne Knight, actual leader of the party as he lay dying on the island."

Fortunately Lorne Knight made a special effort to be explicit in his diary on the subject of Ada Blackjack and we are, therefore, able to tell the whole story in his own words, except for a few gaps of a line here and a paragraph there in places where the diary has been mutilated by Mr. Noice. (We are, of course, not certain that all the paragraphs which Mr. Noice erased dealt with Ada Blackjack.)

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As a preliminary to Knight's account of what happened we must review briefly the circumstances of Ada Blackjack's connection with the expedition. When we were making the Wrangell Island plans in Seattle, we had agreed that while Eskimo hunters were not essential for safety and success, Eskimo seamstresses were, and that in order to secure seamstresses you had to take with you entire families. * The object, then, would be to get the best possible combination, the man a good hunter, the woman a good seamstress, both healthy and with children the fewer the better. At Nome gthe party made tentative arrangements with Eskimo families which these families later broke. It had been intended that Ada Blackjack should go along with these families. When they withdrew from their bargains she was in duced to go alone on the promise that natives for her company would be picked up on the voyage either somewhere in Alaska or at East Cape, Siberia. When the partylater went in to East Cape they had two purposes, to get natives and to get a skin boat. The skin boat they did not buy because the price seemed to them exorbitant, and the natives they were unable to secure.

It was under these circumstances that Ada Blackjack found herself the only woman with four men on Wrangell. Knight's account will show what she said and did in the Island that can have a bearing upon Mr. Noice's charges, and will show also the actions and opinions of all of the men. When the story has been carefully examined the reader will have the feeling that the ideas and conduct of the party instead of being any of the other many things that have been suggested, were in reality something between mid-Victorian and puritanic.

The story of the difficulties opens with a rather formal entry in Knight's diary for September 29th, 1921:

"For future reference, perhaps, I am going to make a statement of what happened to-day. About 2 P.M. Ada Blackjack, our seamstress, went out of the tent as we were all sitting inside. About an hour later Crawford became anxious as to her whereabouts, as she had not returned. Near the tent on a box were found her 'Eversharp' pencil and a finger ring. Sticking in a crack in the box was a note written by her to Crawford telling him to take these two articles. Seeing that she had left camp, Crawford and I immediately followed her tracks toward the hills inland. After an hour of very fast walking we came up to her and she immediately started to scream and act like an insane person. Out of her clothes dropped a bottle which was half full of liniment. She had been drinking it and was quite sick. After some persuasion we got her started home and she told us the same thing that she had written a few days before and handed to Crawford, viz., that 'we intended to kill her. ' Also that when she had seen us following her she had drunk the liniment, for she was afraid of me (Knight) and had seen me sharpening my knife in the morning; and several more things too long to relate here. The fact is, we have treated her as well as anyone could be treated and my honest belief is that her mind is not fully developed, for she acts, so

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it seems to me, like a child of 8 or 10 years of age. We will watch her and take good care of her. Not knowing what she may do in the future, I am setting down these facts, as is Crawford, and he is keeping the notes to show to Mr. Stefansson. She seems to he brooding but we cannot find out the reason.”

September 30th: "Our seamstress kept Crawford awake all last night asking for protection, saying that she was afraid of the ’other men.' Every time she sees one of us sharpening his knife she asks if the knife is to he used to ’kill her with. ’ We are more of the opinion than ever that she is slightly touched. Too bad we did not know it in Nome. She surely wouldnot he here.

On October 1st, "Our seamstress had a spell or two about us killing her hut this evening she seems to he all right. Have tried coaxing but find that firmness is better." October 2nd, "The seamstress has had a few spells to-day, saying she will never see Nome again and a good many foolish things. At this moment she is busy sewing. Hope she keeps it up."

October 3rd, "The woman has had several crying spells to-day and tells us that she was warned in Nome by a fortune teller who told her to be careful of fire and knives. We all have a great deal of use for knives and she, seeing ususe them and believing the fiction told her by the fortune teller, is frightened stiff. A few minutes ago she asked me to get my rifle ready and whenshe sleeps to kill her. In the next breath she asks usto save her life andnot let anyone harm her. This happens half a dozentimes a day. . . . . . We treat her as nice as can be. One minute her spells look like sham and the next minute real."

On October 4th Knight says that "The woman has a spell of crying now and then but is better than the last few days. She is working a little at winter boots." On October 5th, "The woman is working some and rather quiet now. Thank Heaven!" On October 7th, "The woman asked Crawford for a religious book yesterday and I gave her my grandfather’s prayer book. We pointed out several passages in the book to her showing that everybody should be kind and work faithfully, and now she is kind and faithful and sews continually."

The most serious difficulties with Ada Blackjack were in late October and in November. On the 20th of October, "Our seamstress has practically quit work and will not give us any reason. Crawford, who is the only one of us who has any influence with her, told her to-day that if she did not finish the skin she has been scraping at [softening as a preliminary to sewing] for the last day or two by to-night that she would be put on bread and water. That accelerated her a bit but at bedtime to-night the skin isnot finished. We will try theSing Sing fare on her to-morrow. "

On October 27th, "The seamstress isnot doingmuch work and it is nearly impossible to get her to do as much as she does. She will not talk and tell us the reason and at the present time it looks as though we would have to make our own cl othing.