172 P r t L a n d montHL maga ine cLocKwise from toP Left: oLd BaHamas 3 BonHams auctions BaHamas HistoricaL societ tHe BritisH coLoniaL HoteL oLd BaHamas Passion and Paradise aBc solved mysteries. the earLy yearS arry Oakes’s life would not seem out of place as the subject of a Jack London novel, although his early years gave no indication of the tri- umph and tragedy that were to come. He was born to a financially comfortable family in Sangerville, Maine, on Decem- ber 23, 1874, the third of five children. A decade later, the family moved to Foxcroft to allow Harry and his two brothers to at- tend the prestigious Foxcroft Academy. After graduating, Harry entered Bowdoin College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree. He went on to study medicine at Syracuse for two years before he was bit- ten by the gold bug. At 22, hearing tales of the fabulous strikes being made in the Klondike, he left medical school for Alas- ka to pursue a career as a prospector. He had no doubt of his potential for success. According to Maine folklore, Har- ry confided to a Bowdoin classmate that he expected to gain a fortune and die a violent death “with his boots on.” Oakes’s youthful prediction, melodramatic though it might have been, would eventually prove accurate on both counts. In the Yukon, Harry fought to survive not only the extremes of weather–it was not uncommon for temperatures to plunge to 60 degrees below zero–but the violent way of life there. The Klondike during the Gold Rush was the last bastion of the Wild West. Crime was common, and gangsters such as “Soapy” Smith, the notorious “King of the Klondike,” ruled. Young Harry adapted well to his rough- and-tumble environs, but he made no strikes. Restless, he spent over a decade roaming the world on his obsessive search for riches, prospecting in California, Cen- tral America, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, before returning to North Amer- ica after hearing gold was being mined in Northern Ontario. His quest finally paid off in 1912, when he discovered a massive seam of gold be- neath Kirkland Lake. This strike would Sir Harry lay dead upon his bed in a grisly state. His body had been doused in gasoline and set alight, covered with feathers, suggesting a ritual killing. A e In the ie a i a a a i Ar andAssante adr itl aptures the dastardl Al red de arign hile d teiger is s lid as a r k as ir arr akes. ight A hilling i age akes taken r the ri e s ene. ir arr as und ith his a e ered in l d r ur pun ture unds t the le t his head that rep rtedl ra tured his skull. In ir arr s ar el as au ti ned at B nha s r ir a . ther n ta le ners the ispan ui a B edan a de ille in lude ap riti illi naireAndre u nnet . .W deh use Agatha hristie el nWaugh the aha arah Al ar Anth n usta de th s hild ing ar l ania Whitne traight he hah ersia eneral ran pain and a l i ass . r au ti n results ir arr s ar see . nha s. au ti ns l t