CSI Klondike: Suspect Interviews II

North-West Mounted Police
YUKON TERRITORY
Harry Brackett | Joe Larkin | Mrs. Dayton


Interview with Harry Brackett
Date: August 3, 1899
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Dawson City - Monte Carlo Saloon
SH: How are you, Mr. Brackett? Still doing a brisk business at the Monte Carlo?
HB: You betcha, Sergeant. You should drop in sometime you're off duty.
SH: Ah yes, well, maybe you could just tell me about the evening of August 1st.
HB: Well, it's the same every night, the show started at 9 p.m. and went till 1 a.m. You know, singing and a few dance numbers, a couple of dramatic vignettes, nothin' too top hat. Then we stack the chairs and the band strikes up, everybody dances until the musicians quit, about 6 a.m.
Cards are going on all the time in the back room and private parties upstairs.
SH: Is Miss Kitty Moore a popular employee?
HB: Kitty is one of my best entertainers. Especially those love ballads, she really gets the boys going. She dances with the miners for a buck a dance and she's not often sittin' down. Like the other girls she makes sure there's drinks being bought, the girls get a cut from every drink sold. I watch them though, some of 'em have sticky fingers and can lighten a fella's poke in no time. I'm real careful about that, my place is respectable.
SH: Tell me about the fights George Olsen picked with Frank Davis and Joe Larkin on the 1st.
HB: Oh yeah, the three of them were here. Kitty was with Olsen, Davis was at the poker table, and Larkin was getting drunk alone at the bar. Olsen was a steady customer, but whenever he got real drunk he'd get rowdy and mean. That night was no exception. He started with Larkin, then Davis about claim jumping and that damned nugget. I was gonna send for one of your Mounties, but Kitty got him to lay off.
SH: What about the next night?
HB: I think Olsen had taken the wagon back to the claim, but Larkin was still in town. He bought a private room for him and his pals. He asked for Kitty special. They bought lots of liquor I'll tell you. People were coming and going all night. Didn't see much of Larkin down here at the bar, guess he kept to the room. Around closing he and Kitty came down and had a drink down at the end of the bar. They had their heads together for quite a while.
SH: Did you see Larkin after that?
HB: Yeah, he came by for a couple of shots around noon,he was headed out to Gold Bottom.

Interview with Joe Larkin
Date: August 4, 1899
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Location: Gold Bottom - in Joe's room at the Dayton's.
SH: Joe, how long have you known George Olsen?
JL: Since September of '98, when I started working for him. It's hard work this hand mining - but Olsen worked hard, too. Boy he sure had a hot temper.
SH: Tell me about what you were doing over the past few days?
JL: Well, let's see, August 1st I went into Dawson with Olsen for mail, supplies and to pick up some mining equipment that was due in off the steamer. That night we stopped in at the Monte Carlo. Olsen got real drunk, the fool, with Kitty Moore. Then he started in at me and old Frank Davis about that nugget he's always bragging about. It was me that spotted the nugget in the tailings. If Olsen hadn't been standing right by the sluice box I might have just slipped it in my pocket and kept my mouth shut. Anyhow, Brackett was gonna send for one of you fellas when Olsen started to scrap with us, but Kitty settled Olsen down. She's a little bit of a thing, but she knows how to handle us boys pretty good. I left before the last show.
SH: And what about the next day, August 2nd?
JL: That day Olsen and I loaded up the wagon with the mining equipment and most of the supplies. He headed back out to the claim with the wagon. I waited around for the rest of the supplies and the mail. That night I was at the Monte Carlo again. I got me a private room above the dance floor. A bunch of us boys hooted and hollered all night. Kitty Moore and a few of the other girls were there for most of the night, too. Next morning, that's the 3rd, I packed up and headed tack to Gold Bottom. I guess I left Dawson around noon. It took me longer than usual, about four hours. I guess my horse was a little tuckered with the load I was carrying. Course you know when I arrived - you'd already found Olsen.
SH: Anything else you can think of, Larkin, that might help us to catch the murderer?
JL: Well, there is one thing. A visitor came to the claim on July 28, I think it was. Tall, thin fella. Wearing a fancy suit, but he looked pretty down on his luck. He and Olsen went into the tent, I could see from where I was working at the sluice box. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could tell Olsen was madder than hell. He pushed that fella right out of his tent. The stranger didn't look too happy, either.

Interview with Mrs. Dayton
Date: August 4, 1899
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: Gold Bottom - Dayton's General Merchandise store
(Note: Mrs. Dayton's husband, Bert Dayton, was present at the interview, and corroborated her statement)
SH: How are you managing with Bert laid up these days, Mrs. Dayton?
MD: Oh Lordy, it isn't easy for us with my bad back and Bert's ailment. It's the long days on my feet and the lifting. Bert and I have decided to get the last boat before freeze-up and spend the winter with the family in Winnipeg. We've done well this past season, even though keeping the store stocked has been difficult at times. Condensed milk and eggs are worth their weight in gold.
SH: Tell me about your boarder, Joe Larkin?
MD: Well, young Joe comes from an unfortunate family in Portland. Naturally, like most young men, he's looking to make some money. He started working Mr. Olsen's claim last fall. That's when he started boarding with us. He's a tough lad, keeps to himself.
SH: How did Joe and Olsen get along?
MD: He had a nasty temper, that Mr. Olsen. He bossed Joe around all the time, even though Joe is a real hard worker. Joe asked Mr. Olsen for a raise, hut he didn't get one. They got on, though.
SH: Olsen had been going into town a lot, I've noticed.
MD: Olsen went from rags to riches real fast and that changed him. Lately he'd been sniffin' after that dance hall girl, Kitty Moore. All that kind is after, is to mine the miners. A couple of weeks ago Mr. Olsen brought her out to the claim. He spread his poke over the counter right here, so she could choose a couple of nuggets. I don't think she was too impressed, they were all small ones. I was quite amused, she looked so disappointed.
SH: What about Frank Davis, I believe he's a customer of yours?
MD: Oh sure, Frank's an old customer. Last week, Mr. Davis and Mr. Olsen had a row in front of our store. "That nugget is rightfully mine," shouts Davis. Olsen shouted right hack, "You're bushed old man - the Mounties'll be escorting you outside to the asylum." Ordinarily Frank is a quiet-spoken' man but he certainly said his piece that day. I do wish he'd spend less time at the games table, though.
SH: Did you see Mr. Davis on the 2nd or 3rd?
MD: Oh yes, he passed through here about the time I was preparing Bert's noon meal. That was the 2nd, I'm sure, because it was that night I woke up with the dogs.
SH: Did you now? Tell me about it.
MD: Well, about 3 o'clock that morning, I mean August 3rd, I was asleep in bed but woke up because the dogs were making a terrible racket, like they do when something spooks them. They even woke you, didn't they Bert? Well, finally I got up and let them in to settle them down. I can see up the creek to Mr. Olsen's tent from the back of the store. Inside I could see a light moving around, then it went out. I remember thinking to myself, I wonder what that George Olsen is up to? My goodness, I was shocked to hear he was murdered.