Seattle, Jan. 30. - Lured into a room in the Archibald hotel by a false message, A. F. Ruser, a former official of the Dome City Bank, of Fairbanks, who one week ago commenced suit against Mrs. Carboneau, and her niece, Miss Margaret Mulrooney for an accounting of ten thousand dollars, claims he was attacked by two ruffians and held while Mrs. Carboneau horsewhipped him unmercifully and that when his cries brought help, they made their escape.
When interviewed at the Hotel Washington, this morning, Mrs. Carbonneau
made the statement that she did the horsewhipping unassisted, and that her friends all claim she did right.
Ruser will probably swear out a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Carbonneau
some time today.
Seattle, Jan, 31. - A. F. Ruser was this morning refused a warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Carbonneau, as he had no evidence against her. He is now searching the city for those referred to who made their escape when help arrived, as he must have witness to the assault who will establish his case.
Long before gold was discovered in the Klondike "Countess" Carbonneau, then Miss Belinda Mulrooney, was stewardess on the steamer City of Topeka plying Southeastern Alaskan waters from Puget Sound. She was one of the first stampeders the fall of '97 and was successful in staking several good claims. In '98 C. E. Carbonneau showed up in the Klondike. He called himself a count but knowing ones said he had formerly been a dishwasher in a Montreal restaurant. "No Ac-Count Carbonneau" was the name usually applied to him in Dawson.
Whether it was Belinda's face and manner or her three-dollars-to-the-pan
gravel that attrached the "Count" is not known, but they were married the early spring of 1900 and for the next few years they lived a turbulent life. While Belinda usually got the best of a family row, her spouse put her out of commission once for several days when he
swatted her a biff with a scantling on a dump on upper Bonanza.
Carbonneau finally left the country and reports of his escapades, frequent and incarcerations in skookum houses on the outside were from time time wafted back to Dawson where his "relic" remained until '04 or '05 when she, having become involved in several business complications, shipped a steamer for the lower country, Fairbanks, it being alledged at the time that she remained in seclusion on the boat until it reached the Yankee side. Later, the only available property she left in Dawson, the Fairview, was seized and sold by her former attorneys to whom she owed money.
In the Tanana the Goddess of Fortune again smiled on Belinda and she opened the bank, the operating of which led up to the horsewhipping in Seattle recently. It is said Mrs. Carbonneau left the North with considerable money, part of which she invested in a fine home near North Yakima, Wash., where she is now living.
Oldtimers will remember how "Count" Carbonneau practically strewed the trail from Skagway to Dawson with dead dogs the spring of 1898 in his efforts to make a record trip from the coast to the mining metropolis.
