Arthur H. Noyes

[6] He entered into a partnership with his brother and classmate R. E. Noyes and relocated to Grand Forks, Dakota Territory in 1882 and then Minnesota in 1887.

He was one of three judges dispatched to Alaska in the summer of 1900,[7] his appointment being secured by Republican North Dakota political boss Alexander McKenzie.

McKenzie knew that Noyes was an excessive drinker and had financial problems, which could be exploited.

In Alaska, McKenzie pursued a spurious claim over the richest mining stakes in the district, and got Noyes to issue an injunction allowing McKenzie to start mining the claims to the exclusion of the rightful owners.

The Ninth Circuit then had McKenzie arrested and sentenced him to a year in prison (President McKinley pardoned him after a few months).