1872-1902

Mollie was a resourceful and independent young woman with a wanderlust and love of frontiers. In 1890, she left home at 18 for Butte, Montana where she spent seven years. Landing in Skagway in 1897, Mollie became popular as a waitress and member of humanitarian activities of the Union church. When her efforts crossed Jefferson "Soapy" Smith, she feared retaliation and moved up the White Pass Trail near a Canadian Mountie station where she established a grub tent.

Over the spring of 1898, thousands of argonauts began carrying stories of her charm and grace. Jack Newman and Mike Bartlett both hardy and reputable packers, were serious suitors, but Mike finally won Mollie's heart. In 1900 they were married in Dawson, had a child and rode a wild wave of prosperity until the evil of drink and a bad experience in Nome changed Mike dramatically.

Mollie eventually moved to Seattle without Mike, but he pursued her. One dreary October eve in 1902, drunk and quarrelsome, Mike came to room Mollie shared with their child. After a short argument, Mollie, who was ill, fled to a muddy alley where her husband shot her dead.

Jack Newman never forgot the diminutive woman who won his heart. In 1930, his statue to Mollie was unveiled and now stands in the Skagway park named for her. Newman wrote that Mollie was a woman "on whose headstone could be most fittingly inscribed; Here Lies Drama!"


[Photo captions:]
"The Bartlett brothers in the only known photo of them together: Ed, standing center, Al seated left, Mike seated right. The other two men have not been identified." Vida Bartlett Collection, acc. #90-176, Archives, AK and Polar Regions Dept, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

"The Bartlett family, a collection of photos found in a bureau in Mollie Walsh Bartlett's rented room on the night of her murder." from the Seattle Post Intelligencer, October 28, 1902.

"A stately Jack Newman after returning to the lower states, about 1930" from the Gold Book, The Alaska-Yukon: Fred N. Attwood ed. Seattle Sourdough Stampede Assoc. Inc. [date unclear]

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