by Hank Nuwer
Samuel Blum in his time was one of the wealthiest Alaskan pioneers, making his money primarily as a mercantile store owner, banker and investor. A devout Jew, he earned statewide respect as a philanthropist.
Born and educated in San Francisco, Blum moved to Alaska in 1888.
He and his wife, Estelle Leopold Blum, lived in an expansive three-story home in Cordova at 500 Third Street furnished with taste and luxury.
Blum served as president of the First Bank of Cordova and a large mercantile store in Chitina that had recently caught fire. He also ran a bank in Valdez and ran part of his business empire out of an office building in Seattle.
Unfortunately, Blum’s health began to betray him as a new year arrived in 1917. He complained of bouts with shortness of breath and verged on the edge of passing out.
After his death, business associates recalled seeing him throw open a large window in his third floor Seattle office to gulp drafts of frigid air into his deprived lungs.
Blum’s work day on January 12, 1917, included a conference with Valdez Dock Company President James W. Lathop. Blum said he felt ill around 5:30 p.m. He walked past the desk of his secretary Laura Lawson into his office.
One minute later, Lathrop walked into the office to discuss a business matter, according to a follow-up investigation published in the Cordova Daily Times of January 26, 1917.
Lathrop left Blum’s desk and went to Lawson’s station.
“Why, where’s Blum?”
“Isn’t he here?” the secretary said. “He certainly did not leave the office.”
The two rushed into the office and gaped at the open window.
Fearing the worst, Lathrop dashed downstairs to see a commotion on the street as Blum expired.
Blum was only 49 years old.
Deputy Coroner Frank Koepfli investigated the case as a possible homicide in the event Blum’s fall had been intentional. He interviewed the last two witnesses to see Blum alive on the third floor.
Lathrop informed the deputy coroner that a few days previously he caught Blum in his arms after his colleague went faint.
After talking with others who knew Blum, Koepfli found no signs of depression or mental fatigue.
The deputy coroner deduced that Blum likely felt faint, threw open the window for air, and swooned, thus pitching headlong to his death.
Loose lips in Cordova murmured that “Sam” Blum must have committed suicide. They blamed his death on an over reaction to the Cordova store fire.
Editors in Cordova, Valdez and elsewhere came to Blum’s defense, pointing out that the store had been insured. They assailed the gossipers, stressing that Blum had just purchased valuable land from Robert Ashland adjacent to the First Bank of Alaska for expansion or development. He completed the transaction right before his demise.
Rabbi Samuel Koch conducted a funeral service on January 15.
Newspapers issued condolences to Blum’s wife and three preteen children: Allen, John and Elizabeth, the youngest at age four.
The Valdez Dail Prospector ran a tribute to Blum reprinted by the Cordova Daily Times:
“Sam Blum is dead. His light went out so suddenly that the associates of years find their minds instinctively resisting belief in the tragic end. . . Sam Blum will be missed in Southern Alaska as few men would be missed, and the surviving friends are legion who wave after him a mournful farewell as he enters the dawn of futurity or the dreamless sleep or endless oblivion.”