The Sudden Flight of Ballard's Prominent Citizen
A local businessman flees to Chicago, leaving unfinished projects and a cryptic telegram behind, out of a sensitive fear of public scandal.
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 sudden departure of N. W. Fletcher, a prominent and highly esteemed business man of Ballard, for Chicago on the evening of November 3, has caused considerable surprise to his intimate friends and has given rise to endless surmises. Mr. Fletcher recently took a lease on the Auld shingle mill and was building a handsome residence on Burke Avenue, which he left unfinished with no arrangements for the contractor. The only public notice of his departure was a brief mention in the Sunday Post-Intelligencer. James S. Bushnell, cashier of the West Coast Improvement Company, received a telegram from Pasco stating: 'Suspend sentence until you hear from me from Chicago.' Mr. Bushnell was puzzled, as there were no debts or unfinished business between them. Friends believe Fletcher's departure was prompted by a sensitive fear of criticism. He had made unauthorized alterations to the records of the West Coast Manufacturing and Investment Company. While his business partner, Mr. McVay, insists no prosecution would have been instigated, Fletcher’s extreme sensitivity to public perception led him to magnify the offense and flee rather than face a potential, albeit unlikely, scandal.
“Suspend sentence until you hear from me from Chicago.”
Fletcher's reaction to minor paperwork irregularities—fleeing his life to avoid the social stigma of a 'scandal'—is a stark reminder of how reputation-based business was in the 1890s. Today, such a situation might be resolved with a corporate compliance meeting, but the pressure of public shame remains a potent force in civic life.
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