The City Treasurer Absconds
Seattle City Treasurer Adolph Krug flees to British Columbia amid reports of a massive $30,000 deficit in the municipal treasury.
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.
Adolph Krug, the city treasurer, is a defaulter and has absconded. To what extent the city treasury is deficient cannot yet be determined, but it is believed to be in the neighborhood of $30,000. Krug is believed to be in New Westminster, B.C., having left Seattle on the morning northbound train yesterday. Mayor J. T. Ronald issued a proclamation suspending Krug for 'unlawfully converting to his own use the moneys of said city.' Krug, who was well-regarded and operated the Queen City bakery, reportedly used municipal funds to speculate on city warrants. He boarded a train in Ballard and crossed the frontier, despite being in the company of a U.S. Marshal, who later claimed he did not realize the scale of the situation until the escape was complete.
“I believe Mr. Krug is honest and will return and I do not believe you have any right to suspend him.”
Municipal corruption scandals involving public officials and real estate speculation were common in the 1890s, when Seattle was struggling through the Panic of 1893. Like modern fiscal oversight battles, the community's reaction here focused heavily on the instability of local banks and the potential loss of public assets.
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