Reed

The plaintiff in error was in the possession of a parcel of land in Juneau, Alaska, claiming to own the same through the will of George Harkrader, deceased. The defendant in error brought ejectment, claiming that she was the only child and sole heir of George Harkrader, and that the will was void as to her for its failure to mention her. It was conceded that under the law of Alaska, if a testator having a legitimate child devises his property by will without mention of the child, the will is, so far as she is concerned, void. The controversy in the court below concerned only the question whether Elizabeth was the legitimate child of Harkrader and entitled to inherit his estate.

There was evidence for the defendant in error tending to show that in the year 1886 or 1887 Harkrader contracted and consummated a common-law marriage with a half-breed named Lilly Clark, and that the defendant in error was the sole living issue of that marriage. There was evidence for the plaintiff in error that Lilly Clark was not a halfbreed, but a full-blooded Indian, the daughter of Kaklak and Emma Phillips, who were living together as man and wife; the purpose of the evidence being to show that a…