Happy Birthday to “Cassie” Kossuth, born on this day, May 2, 1892 in Seattle to Caspar Kossuth and Stella Barnum. Caspar senior died in Seattle between 1892 and 1897 because the widow Kossuth, her mother and her son little Cassie arrived in Skagway in July 1897. Stella set up a little hotel with her mother and soon found help from a gentleman friend, George Buchanan (not the same George Buchanan as the Detroit philanthropist of an earlier blog).
George apparently did not like the boarders at Stella’s hotel, and so did as some jealous men do, he shot her and then shot himself. We do not know if Cassie was witness to this, hopefully not, but by 1900 he had been adopted by another Skagway family the McArthur’s. Now in the 1900 census William and Annie McArthur show both Cassie and a Kenneth McArthur both born in 1892 in Seattle and arriving in 1897. Perhaps they are the same boy, in any event, Cassie grew up and married in 1930 to Margaret in Seattle. He passed away in 1966 in Seattle at the age of 74.
Now those of you who wonder if the spirits of Stella and George still inhabit the hotel building which now sits behind the Red Onion Saloon on 2nd Avenue, the answer is maybe. The current owner told me that his aunt always said she felt a presence in that building, but nothing more. If you happen by on the night of September 20, the night of the murder-suicide listen for a couple of shots!
Victoria Daily Colonist 9.26.97; Klondike Fever