The Mysterious Disappearance of Commodore Post
A missing Tacoma banker, once thought dead, turns up in China, revealing a tangled web of financial trouble and a high-society marriage plot.
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.
Linos E. Post, who disappeared mysteriously from New York city last fall, and by many was believed to have drowned or been foully dealt with, is now said to be in Shanghai. At the time of his disappearance, it was thought he had met his fate in the East River. It now appears he traveled to the Orient via the Canadian Pacific, finding work as an agent for D. E. Brown. Brown, formerly a Canadian Pacific official, had previously courted Post's daughter, a prominent Tacoma society leader. Commodore Post had a history of vanishing; years earlier, he disappeared from Brooklyn only to resurface on Puget Sound, where he amassed a fortune in real estate. His latest flight came amid rumors of an $8,000 bank shortage. Despite a frantic search, Post managed to slip away after drawing funds in New York.
“Mrs. Post was about to claim his insurance, when it was learned that he was here on Puget sound and had made a fortune in real estate.”
Post's story of reinventing himself after financial scandal captures the restless, speculative energy of 1890s Tacoma. It’s a classic 'missing person' narrative that mirrors the high-stakes personal risks taken by the region's early real estate moguls.
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