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When the son of Chief Shakes mysteriously drowned in 1911, his family constructed a monument with an unforgettable epitaph:

“IN MEMORY OF MOSES SHAKES, SON OF CHIEF SHAKES, AGED 23 Y, WAS MURDERD HERE 12 OR 13 DAY OF MAY 1911. A CHRISTAN THE CHIEF DECIDED TO BE SILENC AND NOT GO ON WARPATH. I LIVE TO PRUVE THE GUILTY PARTY.”

This is the story behind the monument.

Wrangell’s First Family

Moses Shakes was born in 1888, the second son of George and Mary Shakes. Moses’ father was Chief Shakes, the sixth in a long line of hereditary leaders going back over a century, a symbol of Wrangell’s Tlingit power. By the turn of the century, the Shakes family opened their doors to curious tourists, eager to see the clan’s collection of unique artifacts in an authentic Tlingit home.

Perhaps more than any of the men to serve as Shakes, George Shakes (born Gush Tlein) was torn between two worlds. He was pressured by the Presbyterian missionaries to adopt Christianity and Western ways of life, but he also served as a traditional caretaker of sacred rituals, songs, stories, and artifacts. The Shakes family became highly devout Presbyterians, and Moses may have been named for a Christian Tlingit man named Moses, who was shot and killed in Fort Wrangel in 1880 in a bloody conflict.

By 1910, the U.S. Census identified the Shakes family living together on Shakes Island. There was 66 year-old George Shakes and his wife of 35 years, Mary Shakes, age 60. Their eldest child, George Shakes, was 28, married, and living on his own. But their three youngest, Moses (21), Fannie (18), and Johnnie (17) still lived at home on Shakes Island.

By 1911, Moses Shakes was entering the prime of his life. He was young, single, and had no children. He could earn his own money while continuing to live with his family on Shakes Island. Just as he was coming of age, so was Wrangell, which lit up with electricity and telegraph wire. But one invention was changing life in Wrangell forever: gasboats.

Gasoline-powered motors turned waterways into highways. Suddenly, what used to take a crew of people working together to achieve could now be done with a tank of gasoline. People stuck gasoline motors on whatever they had, even old canoes. The gasboat made short pleasure trips up the Stikine River possible. Moses Shakes owned a gasboat called the Yankee. It had been around Wrangell a little while, and it could fit a few passengers.

On Friday, May 12, 1911, Moses Shakes sold a lot of wood he’d spent all winter chopping. With money in his pocket, he gassed up the Yankee and got together with a small group to take a pleasure trip up the Stikine River to a cabin along the crystal-clear waters of Andrew Creek.

Andrew Creek

Among the gray, silty passageways of the Stikine River, Andrew Creek is a refreshing burst of clear water. It sits about 18 miles from the north end of Wrangell Island. It converges with Andrew Slough, which empties into the main Stikine River. As a natural source of drinkable water, Andrew Creek is a popular spot for fishing and recreation.

The creek has a long tradition of Tlingit use. In the 1940s, Tlingit elder Thomas Ukas told Walter Goldschmidt and Theodore Haas:

Both Andrew Creek and Andrew Slough are named for Andrew Klakwetz (sometimes spelled Klaquits), a Tlingit man from Wrangell. He was so well-known for hunting and trapping in this area of the Stikine that his name stuck.

Andrew Klakwetz was one of the first, and most devout, members of Wrangell’s Presbyterian mission which began in the 1870s. He was there for the conflict in 1880 that got the martyred Moses killed. Andrew Klakwetz went on to serve several years as an “Indian policeman.” The role principally concerned Indigenous people, especially the prohibition against providing or selling alcohol to Indians.

By 1911, Andrew Klakwetz was approaching 70 years old. He still hunted up the Stikine River on the creek that bore his name, where he kept a cabin people simply called Andrew’s Cabin.

This cabin—and Andrew Klakwetz himself—would feature in the story of the death of Moses Shakes.

The Final Voyage of Moses Shakes

The historical sources on Moses Shakes’ death are scarce. The most detailed accounts are limited to the May 18, 1911 and May 25, 1911 editions of the Wrangell Sentinel and are sometimes incomplete or contradictory.

On the afternoon of Friday, May 12, 1911, Moses Shakes and a party of four passengers boarded his gasboat Yankee for a pleasure trip up the Stikine River to Andrew’s Cabin. Of the passengers, there were the Austins: Donald (24), his wife Maggie (28), and Donald’s daughter, Lizzy (5). The Census identifies all three as “Indian.” The fourth passenger was Ellen Jackson (30), a married Indigenous “Mixed-Race” mother of a young girl.

As the afternoon tide began to go out, the group began their voyage up the Stikine River.

But the story took an unexpected turn, when Andrew Klakwetz arrived at his cabin with two young Tlingit men from Wrangell: Eugene Geffey (26) and George Bradley (19). The three had been bear hunting up Andrew Creek and were returning to Andrew’s cabin for the night.

The hunters accepted Ellen Jackson’s story, and the the people in the cabin went to sleep under the light of a full moon night.

The next morning, on Saturday, May 13, Donald and Maggie Austin paddled a small boat out to the Yankee to check on Moses:

The hunters also observed three lights aboard the boat were broken and “the pipe leading to the gas tank was broken and tied with rope and that the bilge was full of gasoline.” It was a scene of destruction. It was clear, if Moses had fallen overboard, it wasn’t without a fight.

Andrew Klakwetz and his companions went to Wrangell and reported what they saw.

Things seemed suspicious. There was the Austin family’s early bedtime and Ellen Jackson’s story. The clear signs of a struggle mixed with bloodstains and damage to the boat. Tellingly, the missing money from Moses’ purse stood out. The story did not seem to make sense. Ellen Jackson, Donald Austin, and Maggie Austin were placed under arrest.

On Monday, May 15, 1911, all three defendants appeared at the Commissioner’s Court in Wrangell. They weren’t charged with murder, they were charged with larcency. The prosecutors accused them of stealing from Moses Shakes. The prosecutors may not have had enough evidence to charge anyone with murder, but the larceny charges might get the defendants to reveal more about what really happened.

To establish the facts, the prosecutors called Moses’s family: George Shakes Sr., Mary Shakes, and George Shakes Jr. They also called the hunters: Andrew Klakwetz, Eugene Geffey, and George Bradley. It does not appear that young Lizzy Austin ever served as a witness.

Ellen Jackson sat as a witness in her own defense.

According to the Wrangell Sentinel, the group beat the larceny charge, but prosecutors filed manslaughter charges against them. They weren’t letting this go. People were convinced something had happened aboard that boat, and they were not getting the facts.

Finally, the truth came out — or at least, a new story.

This story was admission enough for the government. They dropped the charges against the Austins and pursued a case against Ellen Jackson for providing alcohol to Indians. She eventually paid her penalty of $100, was let go, and went on with her life.

The Wrangell Sentinel ran the story under the headline Shakes Mystery Cleared. But was it, really?

Ellen Jackson

If Moses Shakes truly felt animus towards Ellen Jackson, it may have stemmed from an event less than two years earlier. Moses’ brother George Shakes Jr. worked under the town’s new Marshall, Albert J. Lowe. As Wrangell quickly learned, Marshall Lowe was happy to fill up Wrangell’s jail, as he personally profited off the inmates. One crime in particular stood out during this time: adultery. It was a hot-button topic, especially between Indigenous women and white men. Religious groups actively promoted marriage, and the law criminalized sex outside of marriage.

In early December 1909, George Shakes and a deputy learned that Ellen Jackson was in the home of Charles Roos, a white man. They secured a warrant from a judge and entered the man’s home. They arrested Ellen Jackson and Charles Roos for adultery. This all appeared in the December 22, 1909 edition of the Alaska Daily Record.

Marshall Lowe became impatient with Roos and struck him over the head, denied him bandages, and threw him in jail for the night. It was the beginning of the end for Marshall Lowe, as public opinion rallied against him. Charles Roos’ huge scars became symbols of Marshall Lowe’s heavy-handed tactics. Marshall Lowe’s reign lasted about one year before resigning.

The episode was tawdry and may have led Moses to form a harsh opinion of Ellen Jackson. As the article originally states, Ellen Jackson did not provoke Moses aboard the Yankee. Rather, he already inherently disliked her.

In the days following Moses’ death, the Shakes family was confronted with Ellen Jackson’s evolving story. It may have been difficult to trust what they were hearing, especially having been told a lie by Ellen Jackson once before. At its worst, Ellen Jackson’s false statement to Andrew Klakwetz delayed the search for Moses. When Ellen Jackson and the Austins revised their story, it may have been difficult to accept, especially since it accused Moses Shakes of effectively being responsible for his own death by jumping recklessly overboard.

Unsatisfied, George Shakes took his son’s legacy into his own hands.

Monumental grief

To honor his dead son, George Shakes acquired a dazzling, white marble monument that would glow in the sunlight like a beacon. It was at least six feet tall, a square column obelisk in two parts, with a large raven-like bird at the top. It was taller than Chief Shakes himself. The marble stood out against the backdrop of weathered plank boards and mossy totems.

The Shakes family placed the monument dead-center in front of their home. Anyone who came or went from their front door passed by this monument and could easily read the inscription etched on its face:

IN MEMORY OF
MOSES SHAKES
SON OF
CHIEF SHAKES
AGED 23 Y
WAS MURDERD HERE 12 OR
13 DAY OF MAY 1911 A
CHRISTAN THE CHIEF
DECIDED TO BE SILENC
AND NOT GO ON WARPATH
I LIVE TO PRUVE THE
GUILTY PARTY

This epitaph by George Shakes for his dead son is powerful on so many levels. You can sense the raw pain and outrage he feels. Even the four misspelled words help it feel more raw and authentic. This is 194 letters painstakingly carved in stone. It is a proclamation directly from Chief Shakes in his own, unfiltered voice. It displays the pain and anger he feels, and yet it looks defiantly into the future.

Throughout his time as Shakes, George Shakes was pulled between two worlds. He aspired to be a devout Christian, yet he embodied his culture’s traditions. As he saw it, there were two options: be a Christian, or go on the warpath. Although he chose peace, this is no surrender, for as he puts it, “I live to pruve the guilty party.” This epitaph has been featured in multiple books of notable epitaphs.

Shortly after the monument’s construction, a surveyor named G.E. Kastengren visited Shakes Island. He asked the elder George Shakes about his dead son:

Tragically, the final line of the epitaph proved short-lived as George Shakes Sr. died just four years later in 1916.

Shakes Island Lives On

Less than two years after George Shakes Sr. died, the Shakes family lost another son: Johnnie Shakes. In 1917, Johnnie Shakes was shot dead in Wrangell by E.R. Bingham, a plumber who mistook Johnnie Shakes for a man he suspected of pursuing Bingham’s wife. It was a tragic case of mistaken identity, and the jury urged leniency. Bingham served only three years in jail for the murder of Johnnie Shakes.

This was another stinging blow to the Shakes family. Johnnie was roughly the same as Moses was when he died. In less than a decade, Mary Shakes lost her husband and two sons. This left her with her George and Fannie. Mary Shakes continued to open the Shakes Island house for tourists, but eventually, she sold the clan’s vast collection of artifacts to Walter C. Waters for his curio store.

By the time Mary Shakes died in 1937, the house on Shakes Island was disintegrating. The marble monument to Moses Shakes still sat out front, but it was dragged off to the side behind some trees. It still continued to face forward. Alaskan author Barrett Willoughby visited the monument and wrote in Alaska Holiday:

In order to attract tourists, the federal government launched an ambitious program in 1938 to recreate totems around southeast Alaska, including Shakes Island clan house. In order create as traditional an experience as possible, the government hired local carvers. When the project was unveiled in 1940, the public celebrated this truly authentic experience. Shakes Island hearkened back to a pre-Colonial world.

But one piece of the island was firmly rooted in the 20th century: the marble monument to Moses Shakes. The decision to keep the monument on Shakes Island must have been a sensitive one. There were certainly people alive in 1940 who knew Moses Shakes, such as his brother, George Shakes.

Today, Moses Shakes’ monument stands on the side of Shakes Island where it was moved in the 1930s. The square column which used to stand on top of the engraved piece now stands in the grass next to it. The carving of the bird is no longer with the monument. The monument’s former dazzling-white glory has faded. It has taken a dark, greenish hue. The monument struggles to stand out against the brush that grows behind it. While moss grows in the cracks, make no mistake: George Shakes’ message is still as powerful today as it ever was.

The monument to Moses Shakes evokes the memory of a man who died too young and his family’s grief over his loss.

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Wrangell Cemeteries

Researching history is amazing, but disturbing headstones is a bad idea. Before attempting to move or clean a headstone, consult with local government, tribal organizations, and next-of-kin to make sure you’re doing it the right way! You never want to be responsible for damaging a grave, even with the best of intentions. There are people in Alaska who are experts in this field, and you should seek out their advice!