The Daily Alaskan

MAY STAMPEDE TO SWIFT CREEK
There have been new developments in the mystery surrounding the death of the two men, A. L. Dominy and Thos. Boyd, since the announcement of the finding of their bodies was made in the columns of the Whitehorse Star on last Friday.

As mentioned in that article there had been found a diary kept by Dominy, several entries from which were quoted, and in one of which he attributed his sickness to the drinking water used. It now transpires that there were other entries that were not discovered in the first examination, in one of which the writer claimed he was suffering from "Rabbit Sickness," but as this appears to be a newly coined phrase, no one seems to know its meaning unless it possibly refers to a disease caused by the use of rabbit flesh as a constant diet.

Dominy, being an Italian, many of the entries were in that language. Besides this there are drawings supposed to represent maps of localities and figures that may refer to the maps or, as contended by some, be a record of either the weather or the stages of the water in the river. Others think the figures, if their meaning can be deciphered, will lead to the discovery of rich placer fields, as it is argued the men would not have stayed in the locality where their bodies were found unless there had been some strong reason for their remaining.

In Whitehorse the opinion is prevalent that the men had found rich diggings in the vicinity of their cabins, but that during the winter they had contracted scurvy, with which disease they were not familiar, and had died with the belief they had been poisoned either from the drinking water or the "Rabbit Sickness," as Dominy called it.

The commanding officer of the R. N. W. M. P. at Whitehorse has taken the matter up and on Saturday sent out a detachment of police on board the W. P. & Y. R. launch Falcon to make a thorough investigation of the circumstances of the men's death, and in order to accomplish this they will be compelled to make a minute search of the cabins where the bodies were found.

When our informant left Whitehorse there was a rumor that a stampede was likely to occur at any minute to the vicinity of Swift creek, the tributary of the Hootalinqua river near which the gruesome discovery was made.

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