Strange Customs

The Corrupt Collector John Carr

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Strange Customs is a true-crime podcast set in Alaska during the 1874 Cassiar Gold Rush. The series centers on the life of John Carr, a career-criminal and fugitive from justice who becomes an ally of a powerful U.S. Senator from Oregon. When John Carr becomes Fort Wrangel’s Collector of Customs for the U.S. Treasury, all hell breaks loose.

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Episodes

Three men dressed in vintage suits with beards and a mustache, with a dark background and the bold title 'Strange Customs Part 1: The Ring of Corruption' at the bottom.

(Part I: Transcript) It’s a true story of crime in the Alaskan frontier. Our story kicks off with the many lives of John Carr, a career criminal on the run from justice. When he finds his calling in Portland’s criminal underground, the doors of political power open for him — including one in far away Fort Wrangel, at the peak of the Cassiar Gold Rush.

A man with a beard and mustache wearing a crown, set against a rural landscape background with hills and houses, with text reading 'Strange Customs Part 2: Fools Rush In'.

(Part II: Transcript) The Cassiar Gold Rush floods Fort Wrangel with miners, merchants, and people hoping to make it rich. Deputy Collector John Carr makes his stake on smuggling, extortion, and fraud. While he makes friends with the local merchants, he finds an enemy in a man called King Lear. As the gears of government turn, Army has surprises in store.

A Victorian-style illustration of a man with a beard and mustache, wearing formal attire, framed by curtains with the title 'Strange Customs Part III: With Justice For All' in stylized text.

(Part III: Transcript) The Army has its man, but the Courts have the final say. A gruesome death threatens to rekindle a bloody conflict between the Army the Tlingit. And Senator John Hipple Mitchell flexes his political muscle to shut down the Army’s case against his henchman, John Carr.

Power Players of Portland

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Strange Customs follows the life of John Carr, a career criminal on the run from justice who finds his way into the halls of power in Portland, Oregon. He becomes a minion of Oregon’s rising star, Senator John Hipple Mitchell.

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Ben Holladay was dubbed “The Stagecoach King,” after making his fortune in the West’s most lucrative transportation routes. His deep pockets were exactly what John Hipple Mitchell needed to get what he wanted.

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Considered perhaps the most corruption politician in American history, Senator John Hipple Mitchell had a cunning legal mind and operated an underground criminal ring of political influence and arm-twisting.

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As one of Portland’s civic fathers, Judge Matthew P. Deady clashed with Senator Mitchell privately and in court. Many of Deady’s most famous legal decisions came from schemes hatched by John Hipple Mitchell.

The Army in Alaska

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General Jefferson C. Davis carried a checkered past from his time in the Civil War and his time as Alaska’s first administrator. Davis encouraged his subordinate officer, Captain J.B. Campbell, to round up and arrest liquor law violators — without a plan for what to do after they were arrested.

Historical sepia-toned portrait of a man with a beard and mustache in a Civil War uniform, framed in ornate gold frame.

A civil-war legend who lost an arm in battle, George O.O. Howard assumed command of the Department of the Columbia from General Davis. It would fall to Howard to resolve the simmering dispute with the Tlingit in Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw.

Historic portrait of a young man in military uniform within an ornate gold frame.

In the late summer of 1874, General Davis ordered Captain J.B. Campbell to go to Alaska, take command at Sitka, and seize control of the illicit liquor trade in Alaska. With uncertain legal footing to stand on, Captain Campbell attempted to enforce justice in Alaska for the Army.

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The King of Fort Wrangel

When John Carr arrives in Fort Wrangel, he’s surprised to find the lawless gold-rush town has a man with power: William King Lear. Known as “King Lear,” he claims to have purchased the abandoned post from the Army. As the Cassiar Gold Rush brings new business Lear new business opportunities, it also brings him new competition.

NEXT IN THE TIMELINE:

If you are interested in what happens in Wrangell history after the John Carr, check out The Trial of John Boyd for the Murder of Thomas O’Brien. After the Army abandons Fort Wrangel in 1878, it descends into lawless chaos, punctuated by the senseless saloon murder of Thomas O’Brien by John Boyd.