stefansson-wrangel-09-32-091r

OverviewTranscribeVersionsHelp

Facsimile

Transcription

Status: Needs Review

THE CHARGES AGAINST ADA BLACKJACK 381

in the body of the book, we are placing this chapter in the
appendix.

There has been put upon us still further compulsion not to
attempt shielding Ada Backjack by our silence from what blame
she may suffer in the eyes of those readers of Knight’s diary who
do not temper their justice with charity. 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 Wrangel Island. For on , Mr.
J. I. Knight received from Mr. Noice a letter and a typed manu-
script which seemed to be a copy of a proposed newspaper or maga-
zine 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 Wrangel Island expedition that every per-
tinent passage in the diary of Lorne Knight must be published that
has 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 publica-
tion, 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.

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 trag-

Notes and Questions

Nobody has written a note for this page yet

Please sign in to write a note for this page