The Body in the Box: A Political Murder Haunts Spokane County
Charles F. Gloystein crossed the Freeman's Protective Silver Federation and disappeared. Now his neighbors are offering a $1,000 reward—not for a killer, but for the body.
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.
SEATTLE, Aug. 9.—[Special.]—Sheriff Pugh has given up almost all hope of ever recovering the body of Charles F. Gloystein, the Mica farmer who was murdered ten days ago by his political enemies. Commencing the day following Gloystein's disappearance and continuing until yesterday, the sheriff and posse, aided by thirty-five or forty farmers, conducted a systematic search of the surrounding country, but without avail. The country east and west from Mica for a distance of ten miles in either direction, and the district south from Mica for a distance of fifteen miles, has been thoroughly covered. The sheriff is inclined to the belief that the body was boxed up and shipped out of the country, and he believes that the only way to ever gain possession of the remains—and thus establish Gloystein's death beyond all doubt—is to offer a big reward of $1,000 or more. He argues that men who would commit murder, no matter on what grounds, could not resist the temptation of capturing a large reward, even at the risk of disclosing their identity. Said the sheriff:
"Some one of the men would manage to confide to his brother-in-law, or cousin, or bosom friend, where the body is concealed, and in this way the reward would be secured, with but small possibility of the real murderers being traced. We must have the body. The man is dead, beyond all doubt, in my mind, and he was murdered by the Silver Federation, but we can never hope to prove anything unless we can produce his body."
David T. Ham, a well-known wheat buyer, and Benjamin Copelan, a wealthy farmer, both of Latah, forty-two miles north of Spokane, have signified their willingness to give up a large amount of property as a reward for the recovery of the body. Other farmers and business men in the district south of here are also much exercised over the affair, and will put up liberally of what they regard as a reward. Since the murder of Gloystein, the better element of the farmers have commenced to regard the federation in the same light as they do a hungry pack of coyotes, and only one remedy is suggested—annihilation. Speaking of the federation yesterday, a Freeman farmer said:
"They're just like a lot of coyotes. They all howl alike, and I can tell 'em as far as I can hear 'em. I can spot a calamity Populist by the sound of his wail just the same as I can tell a coyote in the hills when I hear his voice. Of course, they are strong in numbers just now, and we can't do too much talking or they'd treat us as they've treated Charles Gloystein. But we must rid the county of them or they will clean us out. Although I've never been visited with any direct threats, I have been told several times Republicans are not appreciated, and many hints have been thrown out as to what ought to be done with followers of either of the old parties. Whenever they came feeling around to see where I stood, I've just had sense enough to keep my mouth shut and tell 'em, if I'm anything, that I'm out of politics."
The men of Mica who were interested in the effigy outrage of Gloystein a few weeks ago are now much frightened and tremble lest the strong hand of the law should seize them. Outwardly they appear very anxious to discover the hiding place of Gloystein's body, but Sheriff Pugh believes they much prefer that the body should remain concealed. A. C. Kubeck, captain of the local federation at Mica, who has confessed that he was implicated in the effigy outrage, has materially aided in the fruitless search. So have also William Rambo and another farmer named [???], all members of the federation and bitter enemies of Gloystein.
The name of the Freeman's Protective Silver Federation is in itself a blind, for its objects and aims have nothing primarily to do with the silver question. The principal and sole object of the federation, so it is represented to the candidate for membership, is to protest against and resist by force the collection of mortgages. Nothing is said about the silver question at all. So, on its face, the name of the federation is a blind, intended to deceive the public as to its nature and mission.
“We must have the body. The man is dead, beyond all doubt, in my mind, and he was murdered by the Silver Federation, but we can never hope to prove anything unless we can produce his body.”
The Gloystein case shows how political grievance can turn violent in rural America—and how rumors of a shadowy organization can harden into a murder mystery. Then as now, a body is the one piece of evidence that can turn suspicion into a case, and a community's fear can outrun the facts.
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