A Banker, a Stolen Watch, and a Servant Girl’s Accusation
Herman L. Chase—already accused of assaulting his servant girl—is arrested in Tacoma after a silk robe and gold watch vanish from a hotel. His friends cry blackmail.
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.
TACOMA, Aug. 27.—[Special.]—Herman L. Chase, recently receiver of the First National Bank of Spokane, who was accused of the assault of his servant girl, was arrested yesterday evening on a warrant charging him with receiving and concealing stolen goods. About the middle of July Harriet Joy, of this city, missed a silk robe, a gold watch and chain, and $5 while stopping at the Hot Springs Hotel. At that time Chase left the hotel and walked down the railroad track, taking a train to Tacoma and then going to California, returning last Tuesday. In the meantime Joy had commenced the search for the missing articles.
Tacoma City Detectives Ike Evans searched Chase’s trunks but found nothing. Chase stated frequently at the time that he would give a large sum of money to any one who would find the stolen articles in his possession. Last night Chase changed his lodgings from the Hotel Childberg to the Hotel Tacoma.
Evans and an expressman brought a package to the hotel this morning, and Chase told him to wait a few minutes, that he had a package to express. Continuing, Evans says: ‘I then brought down the package and with his own hands gave it to the expressman. We detained the package at the express office. It was addressed to F. M. Chase, Portland. A search warrant was issued and the package was found to contain the stolen articles, except the money. The marks of the missing watch were in a diamond case.’
Mr. Chase took the matter very coolly when arrested. He was at once released on $500 bail, R. Davis, formerly assistant cashier of the Merchants’ National Bank, and himself signing the bond. His friends are very indignant, and say he is the victim of systematic blackmail, beginning with the charge of assault on the servant girl.
Mr. Chase is a prominent Mason, being a Mystic Shriner. His many friends do not believe he would be connected with a matter of this kind. If he is, they say he could not be in his right mind. He has worried much about the charges preferred against him at Spokane.
A Seattle woman, known both as Miss Elsie M. Rode and Miss Grace Barry, daughter of a Seattle tailor, has been in company with Mr. Chase here considerably of late.
His intimate friends claim that Chase was given the package to hand to an expressman, and that he is innocent of any connection with Joy’s missing articles. The matter has been explained to Joy from this standpoint, and it is expected he will withdraw the charges. It is also claimed the man who connected Mr. Chase with the missing articles went from Hot Springs shortly afterward and can be located and run down.
Herman L. Chase, when he was tried for assaulting his servant girl, was prosecuted by the women of Spokane, who organized for the purpose. He escaped on account of his former social position. It was said that a man of Mr. Chase’s good repute would not try to ruin a poor, unsophisticated child.
“He escaped on account of his former social position. It was said that a man of Mr. Chase’s good repute would not try to ruin a poor, unsophisticated child.”
The Chase case shows how social standing could shield a powerful man—and how quickly his defenders reframed a serious accusation as blackmail. The stolen watch and aliases would be tabloid gold today; the underlying questions about power and consent remain painfully recognizable.
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