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Dear Mr. Knight:

My absence from New York has delayed the reply to your letter of November 2nd. Many thanks for it and for the certified copy of the admirable letter from Lorne to his mother.

To-day I was talking to Dr. Bowman, the Director of the American Geographical Society, about the Noice newspaper story and he mentioned his great admiration for Lorne, especially as shown by the cheerfulness of his diary entries even when things were getting to look pretty bad. I don't think you need to worry so very much about the unkind things Noice has said about Lorne, for the diary entries he quotes carry their own contradiction. It will be only a very careless reader who prefers Noice's comments to the clear evidence of the diary itself. These unkind and uncalled for comments will go heavily against Noice with anyone who stops to think about what he reads.

I am very anxious to get copies of all documents bearing upon the expedition and should be very grateful if you would send me copies of any letters that you still preserve from Lorne that have any bearing on the Wrangell Island expedition, whether they were written before he started or later. I have just received copies of all the correspondence between Fred Maurer and his family. They not only give a very favorable impression of Maurer but they also throw a great deal of light on the organization of the expedition and the spirit in which the boys all worked together.

My secretary says that she forwarded some time ago a photostat copy of Lorne's last letter to me. I hope this has arrived safely. If not, please let me know and we will send another.

The Ada Blackjack situation is disturbing. When we found that Noice had made her an overpayment of $600. we thought it possible that he might have purchased her diary for that sum. I then cabled to Nome but got a reply from Carl Lomen, saying that Ada had sailed for Seattle. The next we knew was the newspaper report that she had arrived in Seattle and would proceed east to join Noice. While this seemed to make worse an already painful situation (since it appeared likely that Noice would concoct another very sensational story) I did not see what I could do about it, or indeed that I could do anything without possibly making things worse. A few days later, however, it occurred to me that all the Eskimos are wards of the

Last edit about 1 month ago by Samara Cary
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United States Government, their special guardian being the U.S. Department of Education. When I got this idea I sent a telegram to the U.S. Bureau of Education, L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, asking whether Ada was in Seattle and what her situation was. I received a reply to the effect that she was in Seattle, that she thanked me for my interest but that she was in no need of anything for the present. It now seemed likely that Noice was not concerned in her arrival and possible that she may be under the control of someone else who was trying to exploit her. I then sent a second telegram to the Bureau of Education, suggesting that since Ada had a "human interest story" of considerable money value, it was important to protect her against exploitation. It was possible someone would get the story from her for nothing. It was also possible that some incompetent person or man of bad judgement would get her story and sell it honestly enough but, nevertheless, at a disadvantage to Ada. The only way to get the full value of such a story would be to sell it in New York, which is the literary market of the world, through one of the recognized literary agents who would charge Ada only a regular small commission, giving her all the rest of the money. I feel certain that a price at least five times as high could be secured that way as any open to even a competent person dealing from Seattle. The Bureau has since sent me several telegrams. They are to the effect that Ada Blackjack refuses their assistance or advice and is under the influence of some man who was a table waiter on the "Victoria" coming down from Nome and who apparently has the idea that he can get money out of her. It is also possible, of course, that he is honest and thinks he is acting for her best interests.

I have learned that at least one of the large newspaper organizations here in New York has received an offer by wire for Ada's story but they have declined it.

My motives in telegraphing as I did to Seattle were two: first, I wanted to try to see to it that any story published was as truthful as possible and as free from sensationalism. My other motive was to secure for her any money that the story brought in. Of course, I would have preferred that no story would be published but that did not seem easy to prevent.

I might have wired you suggesting your going to Seattle but have thought that on the whole the influence of the Bureau of Education would be the best, for they have a legal standing in the case, being her guardians.

I have gathered from telegrams from Seattle that Ada did not either sell or present to Noice the diary he has and that she expects pay for it.

I regret to say that the legal tangles with Noice are

Last edit about 1 month ago by Samara Cary
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not yet straightened out. There is no doubt we shall eventually get possession of the diaries. Fortunately, they are in the hands of the North American Newspaper Alliance. If they had been in Noice's hands I should have been afraid of their being mutilated or destroyed.

On the whole I should think it would be better for you not to try to make any arrangements for my coming to McMinnville. You have such wonderful roads in Oregon that you will be able to bring your family in easily. It will be equally easy for others greatly interested to come to Portland to hear me there. I shall probably not say much about the Wrangell Island Expedition in the Portland talk. Because of the fear of perverted newspaper publicity, my general policy now is to say as little for publication as possible until the book about Wrangell Island can appear. It is not possible in even half an hour to present the story completely and to make it as creditable to those who took part as a full publication of all the documents will make it. It is something like the case of the story of Ambassador Page's work in England. The only way it could be told so as to bring out its full importance was by the publication of his letters. I think Lorne's letters and those of the other boys will be the most admirable and most significant part of the narrative when it is finally published.

With regard to any copies of letters you send me, you might say at once that certain of them are not for publication. If you leave it to my judgement, I should, of course, send you the manuscript for approval before anything goes to press.

I should like very much to get a copy of the enlargement of the picture of the three boys, but I don't quite understand your letter. Did the Seattle Times give you the negative or have they still got it? If you have the negative, I hope you will send me a copy. Otherwise, I will ask for one from the Times direct.

I am sending you a bundle of the Noice stories, as you request. I believe a complete series has also been published by the Seattle Times. I believe there are three installments said to be based on Ada Blackjack's diary which we have not got.

You asked about Noice's financial relations to myself and to the Wrangell Island Expedition. To begin with, I had been supporting Noice here in New York for more than a year. I frequently gave him money, but the checks and accounts we have come up to more than $2,500. In all probability I gave him about $3,500. He was indebted to me in many other ways and I had complete confidence in him. Consequently there was no arrangement about his trip to Wrangell Island, not even a verbal arrangement. In my own mind I had thought of paying him as much as $500. a month but I had also expected to check that off against the debt he owed me. Noice's own point of view is that the original cable he sent from Nome, for which the Newspaper Alliance paid $3,000., was his own property and was sold by him to the Alliance. The Alliance, however, insists that they never dealt with Noice and bought the story from our Company. Noice makes various ridiculous claims with

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regard to the second story based upon the diaries. The most ridiculous of all the claims is that the diaries belong to him because he discovered them in Wrangell Island and because they would still be up there if he hadn't fetched them. We think, however, that the Wrangell Island relief ship would have been about as well managed by anyone else as it was by Noice, so that there is not even that much sense in his contention. The Newspaper Alliance claim that they bought the story from Noice as our agent, and claim that they were justified in looking upon him so because Mr. Taylor had told them over the telephone that Noice was all right and that they might deal with him. This telephone converstation was a misunderstanding, for the Alliance were asking Taylor about one thing and he answered with another thing in his mind. Everyone that I have talked with, including the Newspaper Alliance, feel that Noice is without anything to stand on personally, but it is to the interest of the Alliance to maintain the contention that the bargain they made with Noice must stand legally because of his having been our agent.

From my point of view one of the worst things about the whole matter is that it tends to destroy one's confidence in human nature. When the next fellow comes along who is in Noice's position and needs help, I shall have difficulty in not saying to myself that he is probably another Noice.

The most astounding thing perhaps is Noice inability to see that he is injuring himself more than anyone else. What he says and does may be temporarily annoying and painful to us, but Noice will have to bear the permanent burden.

Please remember me most kindly to your wife and son.

I am going off on another week's trip and expect to write you again when I get back. I hope there will be something good to tell then.

Mr. J. I. Knight, McMinnville, Oregon.

Last edit 2 months ago by Samara Cary
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