The Fugitive Accountant of Hot Springs
A popular local clerk, known for his athleticism and charm, is unmasked as a wanted embezzler from Colorado.
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.
Raymond Hope, chief clerk in Miner's engineering department in this city, was arrested last evening on a requisition from the Governor of Colorado by L. C. Dana, Sheriff of El Paso County, Colorado. For several months, Mr. Hope was in D. D. Clark's office at Tacoma, where he ran a foot race last Fourth of July. He has been here about four months, and being a bright, pleasant young man, has made many friends on the Sound. His proper name is William K. Thornell, and not Raymond Hope, and the charges against him are forgery and embezzlement, committed while in the real estate and insurance business at Hot Springs, Colorado. His peculations, it is claimed, amounted to over $6000. He acknowledges everything, so one of the officers stated. Thornell, or Hope, as he prefers to be called, was formerly connected with the cashier's office of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company, and is a splendid accountant and clerk. He belonged to the gymnasium here, played baseball, and was considered by all who knew him a perfect gentleman. He was put in jail last night and will start for Colorado with Sheriff Dana on Thursday.
“He belonged to the gymnasium here, played baseball, and was considered by all who knew him a perfect gentleman.”
Stories of charming fugitives hiding in plain sight in growing towns have been a Seattle staple for over a century. The Yesler-Leary block mentioned in the report remained a prominent downtown hub for decades before the city's architectural face changed entirely.
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