The Chief Says the Victims Were Drunk
Two men said they were robbed and ignored by Seattle police. Chief Enright answered with a saloon-to-alley account of drink, deeds, and a woman called 'Big Six.'
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.
Henry Wolsleger and Jack Hudson, who were robbed in disreputable places while drunk and who have charged that the police department did not give them proper attention, find their various statements flatly contradicted by Chief of Police Enright, who, in giving the facts in each case, said:
'Last Thursday Henry Wolsleger reported to Sergeant Sullivan, at the police station, that he had lost a pocketbook, but that he did not know when or where. He said nothing about having any money, nor did he say anything about being lured into a den by two well-dressed men or of waking up after he had been drugged and finding himself in a little room.
When Wolsleger reported his loss to Sergeant Sullivan he gave his address as the West Street house. The pocketbook was recovered, and has been in my possession for the last sixty hours. I had inquiries made at the West Street house for Wolsleger, but he could not be found there. The valuable papers spoken of consist of a deed from Fred E. Sander to Joseph Schonbachler; a deed from August Schonbachler to Joseph Schonbachler; and a power of attorney from Joseph Schonbachler to Henry Wolsleger.
At the West Street house my man learned that Wolsleger had reported that he had lost a pocketbook which contained papers in an alley.
In the search made by men for the missing pocketbook they learned that Wolsleger had been drunk forty-eight hours before he reported the loss of his pocketbook to the police station. While drunk he visited almost every saloon and den from Commercial street to Black chapel.
If Mr. Wolsleger will call at the police station he can get his property.
The circumstances of the robbery of Jack Hudson, the railroad man, are as follows: Last Thursday morning Hudson came out of the lodging house over the Green Tree saloon and said he had occupied room No. 9 in the house during the night with a Black woman known as 'Big Six.' He awoke early in the morning and found the woman fooling with his clothing, which was hanging on the wall. He asked her what she was doing, and she replied that she was replacing something in his pocket that had dropped out.
This reassured Hudson and he resumed his slumber. 'Big Six' in the meanwhile stole out of the room. When Hudson awoke he discovered that she had stolen $35 from him. Officer Philbrick made three trips to the house before he found the proprietor, who informed the officer that 'Big Six' had been in the house during the night and that when she left she had taken some bedding with her.
The case is plain enough. If Hudson will swear to a complaint the woman will be arrested and tried for larceny. She has left town, but will be brought back. That lodging house is in no way connected with the Green Tree saloon.'
“While drunk he visited almost every saloon and den from Commercial street to Black chapel.”
Chief Enright's account is part police log and part moral lecture: the victims were drunk, the woman was a convenient suspect, and the recovered property undercut the complaint. In 1890s Seattle, as now, who got believed by police often depended on race, neighborhood, and reputation. The story is a reminder that crime reports are also arguments about credibility.
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