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. Strange Customs is a story about the meaning of law and justice on Indigenous lands.
Part I:
The Ring of Corruption
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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. (Premiered February 15, 2024)
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.
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.
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.
PART II:
Fools Rush In
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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. (Premiered February 22, 2024)
This map shows the fledgling community of Fort Wrangel to the north, and the long-established village of Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw to the south. This map shows the community by the late 1870s, several years after the events of Strange Customs.
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.
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.
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.
Part III:
With Justice For All
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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. (Premiered February 29, 2024)
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.
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.