Who Stole the Northern Pacific Express Gold?
A three-thousand-dollar payroll shipment vanishes from a Seattle express office, triggering threats, a dramatic interrogation, and accusations of internal negligence.
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.
The missing sack of gold from the Northern Pacific express office has not turned up yet, nor has anyone been arrested, although Superintendent Hall has made threats to put Agent Squires in jail. This is the second robbery of money which has occurred in this city from the company within a few months, and in both cases the manner in which the money disappeared was very mysterious. The $3,000 was consigned by Ben E. Snipes Co., of Roslyn, to Dexter Horton Co., in this city, on Thursday night and was not missed until the train arrived here. Agent Squires claims he was off-duty at the depot when the loss was discovered, noting that the express car had been left open during the trip from Tacoma. Squires, who has worked for the company for four years, claims he was threatened by Superintendent Hall at the Rainier Hotel, where Hall attempted to bully a confession out of him before switching to a friendly tone, offering to hush the matter up if the money was returned. Squires maintains his innocence and has retained an attorney.
“I told him I knew nothing about the matter whatever. He continued to threaten me, and said he would send me to the penitentiary. I told him to go ahead.”
Internal security at transit hubs remains a high-stakes challenge for logistics companies today, though now the 'gold' is often digital or high-value freight. The incident highlights the era's reliance on private surety companies to handle corporate loss, a practice that preceded modern risk-management and insurance frameworks.
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