The London Scandal That Followed a Man to Seattle
A local saloon owner is pardoned after spending months in jail, with rumors swirling that his conviction was a orchestrated hit job by high-society English rivals.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Charles R. Hammond, who was convicted of grand larceny in the superior court of King county a year ago last December and sentenced to two years in the penitentiary, was pardoned yesterday by Governor Ferry. He has been in the county jail for about fifteen months. The petition was signed by the prosecuting attorney, the sheriff, auditor, treasurer, chairman of the King county board of commissioners, the mayor of Seattle and many leading citizens. The pardon was granted because the petitioners believed Hammond was innocent, that he had served enough time, and that his family was left destitute in his absence.
Hammond was initially convicted for the alleged theft of a sealskin sack and a gold watch from a Mrs. Augusta Simmons. The woman claimed Hammond had drugged her at his Haymarket saloon. However, the principal witness against him, a bartender named Alexander Todhunter, has since fled the state. It is widely believed that Todhunter was a detective hired by prominent figures in English society to target Hammond, who had previously operated the notorious Cleveland Street house in London, in an attempt to ruin him. With his release, Hammond was greeted at the jail by his 12-year-old son.
“It is believed [the witness] was a detective employed by certain persons high in English society for the sole purpose of placing Hammond, who formerly ran the notorious Cleveland street house in London, behind the bars.”
This story touches on the era's preoccupation with 'notorious' figures and the intersection of global gossip and local law enforcement. It reflects a moment when Seattle was still a frontier city where an international scandal—like the real-life 1889 London Cleveland Street homosexual scandal—could shadow a man across the Atlantic and manifest in a King County courtroom.
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