Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Lonely death of a 'raw-boned sourdough'


(A version of this entry was originally published January 7, 2010, on Relics.)

From the Oct. 31, 1935, edition of the St. Paul (Minn.) Dispatch (purchased at a flea market at the York Expo Center in 2007). Love the colorful writing in this.

Meanwhile, this was Time magazine's mention of Swanson's death: "Died. John ("Old Itchfoot") Swanson, 65, onetime rich, notorious gold prospector; in Los Angeles. He went to Nome in the 1890's, staked out the "Little Minook" mine, gathered in $15,000 a day for a great many days, was a crony of Tex Rickard, Rex Beach, Jack London and "Klondike Kate" Rockwell, poured his money in a yellow river across the gambling tables.

"Broke, hoping for another big strike, he succumbed in a dismal flophouse last week to acute indigestion."

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