Yukon who is who

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Frank Harper
	
Frank Harper joined the North-West Mounted Police directly from England in 1880. He enlisted as a constable and quickly rose to became an inspector in 1887.((Rod Macleod, //Sam Steele: A Biography.// University of Alberta Press, 2018: 186-187.)) Inspector Harper was the first postmaster when the Dawson post office opened on 1 September 1897. He held the position until October [September] 1898.((Canadian Museum of Civilization website on the mail in the Yukon: http://www.civilization.ca/cpm/smail/smail11e.html)) 
	
Inspector Harper left on the steamer //Canadian// for a ten-to-twelve-day trip in early September 1898 to establish police posts at Indian River and Sixtymile, overlook the quarters at Stewart and leave supplies, establish a post halfway between Stewart and at Selwyn, Selwyn River, Hootchikoo, and Tantalus Butte. All of the posts were to be under the Dawson Division. Harper took mechanics and wood choppers and distributed them to prepare or extend the facilities at each post.(("Police Post Extension." //Klondike Nugget// (Dawson), 14 September 1898.)) After he returned to Dawson, Harper sent out more mechanics and wood choppers to hasten the work.(("Matter at the Barracks." //Klondike Nugget// (Dawson), 1 October 1898.)) 

Captain Harper was appointed stipendiary magistrate after his return from upriver. He replaced Captain Starnes who took the position of quarter master and pay master and the occasional duty in civil cases.(("Police Court Items." //Klondike Nugget// (Dawson), 8 October 1898.))
	
Harper had a wife and children in the North-West Territories when, in the spring of 1899, he fell in love with a dance hall girl, Diamond Tooth Gertie [Mary Isabel Lovejoy]. He appeared with her in pubic, spent his wages on her, and then began to neglect his duties and fail to show up for work. His commanding officer, Sam Steele, reprimanded him, reported him to Ottawa, and sent him on a lengthy inspection tour of the police posts along the Yukon River. After Harper returned, he was fine for a bit and then started missing work again. In September, Steele was informed that Harper was short $5,000 in his Sheriff’s account and was not to be found. Steele lamented the fate of a fool who loved wine and women.((Rod Macleod, //Sam Steele: A Biography.// University of Alberta Press, 2018: 186-187.))