The Commissioner, the Gambler, and the Shakedown
A bold blackmail attempt at the Russell House ends in a police hunt for a notorious 'steerer' and his accomplice.
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 desperate attempt on the part of a bunko man and a woman to blackmail W. B. Relfe, a well-known attorney and police commissioner, culminated in the arrest of both. The conspiracy to extort a large sum of money from Mr. Relfe was carefully planned and boldly executed, but Mr. Relfe foiled the conspirators. About two weeks ago, a woman requested a private audience with Mr. Relfe, asking for a divorce. She later lured him to the Russell House, at the corner of Third and Cherry streets, under the guise of discussing the case. Once in Room 17, she was joined by a man named Joe Young, who brandished a revolver and attempted to extort money, demanding to know where Relfe kept his bank account. Young forced Relfe to disrobe and attempted to obtain checks, but Relfe’s associates later intercepted the plot. Deputy Sheriff Jack McDonald tracked Young to the corner of Washington and Third streets, where he was apprehended. Joe Young is well known to the police as a 'steerer' for gambling dens and a dangerous bully.
“Since gambling was suppressed, he was starving. If gambling were only permitted he could make a living.”
This 1893 extortion case highlights the intense civic tension between Seattle's gambling interests and the reform-minded police commissioners of the era. The Russell House, a respectable lodging at Third and Cherry, was a common stage for such high-stakes grift—today, that intersection sits at the heart of the bustling commercial district, far removed from the era's 'steerer' economy.
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