Northwest History. Alaska 7. Alcoholic Liquor, United States

• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1926
• Subjects: Alaska; Judiciary subcommittee; Washington; Judge T. M. Reed; District Attorney Albert G. Shoup; "sourdough" nicknames; "Frozen Foot" Johnson; Cleveland republican convention; Ketchikan; "open and shut case"; Northwest; Pacific > History > 20th century; Pacific; Sutherland
• Online Access: http://content.libraries.wsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/clipping/id/88444

Alaskan Towns Run "Wide Open": Alleged Conditions Aired At Hearings Before Senate Judiciary Subcommittee. ALASKAN TOWNS RUN "WIDE OPEN" Alleged Conditions Aired at Hearing's Before Senate Judiciary Subcommittee. WASHINGTON, March 17. , OP)— Charges of wide open conditions in Alaska were put under scrutiny today by a senate judiciary subcommittee. Throughout hearings granted to Judge T. M. Reed and District Attorney Albert G. Shoup, whose renominatlons in the First Alaskan judicial district are under fire, there were spread on the record frequent references to bootlegging, narcotic traffic and other forms of vice; purported miscarriages of justice and "sourdough" nicknames, such as "Frozen Foot." The officials, however, contended that conditions in Alaska were no worse than in other places similarly situated. Delegate Sutherland of Alaska is leading the fight against the two men, and he is supported by John W. Frame, who claims that he was unjustly deprived of a seat at the Cleveland republican convention as republican national committeeman from Alaska, through the activities of Judge Reed and others. One of the charges against Judge Reed is that he imposed jail sentences upon three men he had found guilty of contempt because of their manner in testifying. Today he said the act was "something I am highly ashamed of." He declared he now believed he was not justified in sending the men to jail. Much of the testimony concerned conditions at Ketchikan, where Judge Reed said the municipal authorities seemed to be opposed to the strict enforcement of prohibition. Delegate Sutherland charged; Shoup had failed diligently to prosecute several liquor cases which had resulted in the failure to convict "Frozen Foot" Johnson, whom he described as "the biggest bootlegger in Alaska." Shoup denied the charges and said Johnson had not been arrested on one occasion because prohibition agents advised him to postpone proceeding until they had an "open and shut case."