Sep 17, 2015 - Sale 2391

Sale 2391 - Lot 1

Price Realized: $ 812
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(ALASKA.) Morris, William Gouverneur. Letter describing the dire state of civil government in the Department of Alaska. Autograph Letter Signed on official letterhead to Clarence E. Ash of Blackfoot, ID; minor foxing, adhesive stain on verso. (MRS) Sitka, AK, 19 September 1883
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Alaska was purchased by the United States in 1867, but was not formally organized until 1884. In 1883, it was under the nominal control of the United States Navy. When an Idaho man innocently wrote to request the governor's autograph, he received this response from the Sitka customs collector: "No such individual exists. . . . Congress has persistently refused to grant a form of civil government for this Territory, and anarchy consequently reigns. It is a crying shame. I am the only civil officer in the territory who can even administer an oath. Sometimes I am called upon to exercise quasi judicial and gubernatorial functions. This I do at my own peril."