The Mysterious Death of 'Chris' in Wenatchee
A quiet gambler found dead in his bed with his pockets cleaned—was it a simple robbery, or did a local woman know more than she was saying?
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.
A man who has been known at Wenatchee as 'Chris' for the past two weeks was found dead in his bed in a Main Street lodging house Monday morning. He showed signs of having died in spasms, as if from poison. Officers are watching suspicious characters closely and believe they have a good clue. Chris would give no other name. He received letters daily addressed in a feminine hand, and at the same hour every day, he posted a letter. He would not associate with anyone and every night was seen in gambling rooms playing faro. He made a good winning and was known to have over $200 in his pocket when he went to bed Sunday night. His vest, containing an empty pocketbook, was found under his pillow next morning, but not a cent was left, and even his diamond shirt stud and sleeve buttons are missing. Many think one of the fast women in Wenatchee is mixed up in the murder. There is no clue to Chris's relatives.
“Many think one of the fast women in Wenatchee is mixed up in the murder.”
While Wenatchee has grown from a frontier-era hub for transient laborers and gamblers into the Apple Capital of the World, the story of 'Chris' reflects the anonymity that often cloaked those moving through Washington's boomtowns. His unsolved demise echoes the hazards of 19th-century life in the Interior, where one's life history was often discarded as easily as a poker hand.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.