Lieutenant Carranza's missing letter has been found. You will remember we told in our last number of the arrest of a Montreal detective who had been arrested and accused of stealing it. It was not taken by the Montreal detective, but by a secret service officer of our Government. It seems that the Spanish officials at Montreal have been very carefully watched for some time, for it was known that they were spying upon our Government. The detectives had followed Minister Polo and his staff ever since they left Washington, and had secured absolute proof that Du Bosc and Carranza were collecting information and forwarding it to the Spanish Government. On the pretext of purchasing the house, they were shown all over it, and succeeded in securing a number of important letters, cablegrams, maps, etc., which were forwarded to the Government. The letter which Carranza has made so much fuss about was stolen in a very clever way. The detective took a sheet of fly paper, and in a careless way dropped it over the letter; then took up the fly paper and the letter attached to it, and passed it to another detective, who at once forwarded it to Washington. Part of the letter has been published. It is addressed to his Excellency Don Jose Gomez Imay. In it Carranza expresses his regret that Imay was not appointed to command the Cadiz fleet; he speaks disparagingly of Camara and highly of Cervera; most of this part of the letter is in reference to his personal employment by the Government, and he expresses great anxiety to be away to the front and in active service on the fleet.
Speaking of his spy system, he says: "We have had bad luck because they have captured our two best spies. The Americans are showing the most extraordinary vigilance. I shall be extremely gratified to have a ship or a torpedo-boat to run the blockade, or anything rather than playing second fiddle." These quotations go to show that Carranza was not over-pleased with the work of conducting the spy department in Canada. He takes the trouble to criticize Cervera's actions, and he alludes to him as "Don Pasquale," and says that he cannot believe that the Admiral would do such a stupid thing as to get caught in Santiago, his purpose being to attack the American fleet and delay the invasion of Cuba. This letter demonstrates very clearly the wisdom of the Government in keeping carefully guarded all knowledge of the movements of our army and navy, for Carranza has taken advantage of the statements published and information easily obtained heretofore, and has kept his Government informed, and has also personally been advising Admiral Cervera whenever opportunity offered: he speaks of having cabled to Cervera on 20th of May. Our Government has made application to the English Government for the expulsion of the Spanish spies from British territory.
Kellert, the Montreal detective, has caused the arrest of both Du Bosc and Carranza, in a civil suit for damages for false imprisonment; so the Spaniards are in hotter water than ever, especially as all of their money in the Bank of Montreal has been seized as security.
A very interesting account of life in Skaguay, Alaska, has recently been received. The account is written by a Wisconsin woman who, with her husband, went to Alaska to open a restaurant and hotel in Skaguay. She writes: "I never felt so lonesome in my life; I never worked so hard, but have never been so happy; money comes in so fast that we do not know what to do with it. At first, when there was no bank, we were obliged to hide the money in all parts of the house, and we were in constant terror. We had paper money, silver money, gold money, gold dust, and every form of currency that can be imagined hidden all over the house; and as the town was full of people who were without money, and who would not hesitate to cut one's throat for a dollar, we did not have a single moment free from anxiety. Early in the winter we did succeed in sending a number of thousands of dollars to Seattle, and were very much relieved when we received a receipt from the bank.
"The transportation companies are swindlers. They are persuading thousands of people to come to this awful country who will never be able to go back, and all for the sake of making the profit on transportation.
"Flour that we had shipped from Seattle, and which cost over $5 per barrel, cost as much more for freight to this place. But as we sold it for over $40 a barrel before it left the dock, we had nothing to complain of; and it was very poor flour at that, not fit for bread, and hardly suitable for the plainest kind of cooking.
"As for our restaurant, we started it with the idea of giving people good home cooking, and we can hardly serve the people, they come so fast. The restaurant is open day and night, and the tables always full. At first we got a good price for our meals, that is, from $1.50 to $2.50 for a dinner. But there is more competition now, and prices have gone down.