John Emmett Berns papers, 1899-1930

John Emmett Berns maintained a steady correspondence with John Newman. He used this correspondence to write an article about Skagway, Alaska, as it was during the Klondike Gold Rush. Berns also developed and patented gun holsters, including the Berns-Martin split-front holster.

John "Packer Jack" Newman (1863-1931), Klondike Gold Rush packer and muleskinner, was born in New York and had various rugged careers prior to packing supplies in the Yukon. He served on the British vessel Falstaff , rafted on the Mississippi, and packed supplies into remote settlements in Arizona and Colorado. In 1897, Newman moved to Alaska and began packing supplies for the Brooks Packing Company; eventually he was made its chief operator. Significant events during Newman's life in Alaska include the suicides of two roommates, one of whom was fellow packer Ross Steiner (Newman was charged with, but later acquitted of, Steiner's murder).

Newman commissioned James Wehn to create the White Pass monument, and in 1930, he also asked Wehn to sculpt a bust of Mollie Walsh. Walsh, with whom Newman is generally acknowledged to have been in love, ran a supply and grub tent near the summit of White Pass during the Gold Rush. She was murdered in Seattle in 1902 by her husband, Michael Campbell. The bust now stands in Skagway's Mollie Walsh Park. After the Gold Rush, Newman settled in Seattle where he died of acute appendicitis in 1931. He was survived by his wife, Hannah, to whom he erected a plaque in 1930 (which still exists on the southwest corner of 6th Avenue and Union in Seattle).