The Mayor Who Forged His Way Out of Town

The true reason Arthur W. Sharpstein suddenly resigned as mayor of Anacortes a year ago has at last come out, and it shows him to have been a reformer of the same stamp as those who borrowed the public funds of Seattle. He was forced to resign because it had been discovered that he had forged city warrants to a considerable amount, and not because he had incurred the antagonism of certain corporations, as he sought to have it believed at the time. Sharpstein went to Anacortes during the early boom days of that ambitious town and made some money by fortunate real estate deals. He was elected mayor on a wave of 'reform' sentiment, but his habits, always more or less dissipated, became the talk of the community. Evidence of crookedness became manifest when a broker noticed that the signatures of clerk and treasurer on three warrants were not genuine. Confronted with the evidence, Sharpstein pleaded with the accusers behind a warehouse, pulling a revolver and stating that if they insisted on exposing him, he would kill them and then himself. He eventually raised the money through loans and resigned, leaving behind a trail of mystery and further forgery before fleeing to the Cherokee Strip.