The Disappearing Clerk of Commercial Street
A dry goods clerk accused of larceny abandons his bond and flees to Port Townsend under an assumed name.
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.
Aaron Shawl, a young fellow who has been clerking in Ditm's dry goods store on Commercial Street for some time past, was arrested a few days ago on a charge of larceny of $60. The evidence seemed pretty strong against him, and he was bound over in the sum of $400 to appear before the next Grand Jury. Messrs. Mayer, Kline, Kaufman, Dans and Rosenblatt became responsible on this bond. Yesterday morning Mr. Shawl was missing, and his bondsmen became somewhat alarmed. A number of telegrams were sent in different directions, and finally the unwelcome intelligence reached here that Shawl had been arrested at Port Townsend where he was sojourning under an assumed name. This action on the part of the accused points strongly toward his guilt in the charge made against him. We anticipate he will encounter some difficulty in finding gentlemen ready to go on another bond for him upon his return.
“This action on the part of the accused points strongly toward his guilt in the charge made against him.”
Bail jumping remains a perennial civic irritant in Seattle, though the 19th-century reliance on personal bondsmen (merchants putting their own reputations on the line for an employee) has been replaced by the modern commercial bail industry. The 'Commercial Street' mentioned is now part of the First Avenue corridor, once the bustling retail heart of early Seattle.
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