The Chambermaid’s Missing Cash
A local politician, previously cleared of theft charges, finds himself back in legal hot water after fresh evidence surfaces in a hotel pilferage case.
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.
Thomas Kehoe, the First Ward Democratic politician who was recently arrested on the charge of stealing $177 in cash from the room of Peterson, the chambermaid of the St. James Hotel, and who was subsequently discharged at the preliminary examination by Justice Caldwell, was re-arrested yesterday. It is said that new evidence has come into the possession of the city officials. Kehoe is now under arrest for grand larceny, due to the unexpected turn of affairs. He is held by Justice Caldwell on $750 bonds to appear next Wednesday afternoon. Samuel Kehoe, his father, who is the proprietor of the St. James Hotel, and Carl L. Nelson are acting as his sureties.
“Kehoe is now under arrest for grand larceny, due to the unexpected turn of affairs.”
This incident highlights the intersection of local ward politics and the service industry in 1890s Seattle. Like today, the personal lives and moral standing of minor political figures were under intense public scrutiny, especially when involving allegations of theft against precarious hotel workers.
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