The Thief Who Left His Loot Under the Wharf
A desperate ex-convict confesses to a string of violent robberies after being tracked to a dark, desolate crawlspace beneath Seattle's waterfront.
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—George Van Horst, who has given the police his name as Frank Humboldt and George Van Assert, has confessed that he is the robber who entered the house of T. S. Lippy, the Klondike capitalist, Sunday night, and beat his victim over the head with a revolver. Van Horst led Detectives Adams and Lane to a place under the wharves where he had concealed two watches taken from Mr. Lippy. The watches were recovered. Van Horst, sullen but desperate, was told that the best thing for him to do, after confessing his crimes, was to help the police all in his power. He led his companions to the coal bunkers at the foot of King Street. Descending under the wharf, the party walked along the filled-in land back of the wharf to a place so dark that the poles could not be distinguished. While one detective grabbed Van Horst's coat, the other went ahead and, under the street in the desolate cave under the wharf, found the two watches on top of a pile. Van Horst has admitted he was the prime mover in the robbery of John E. Johnson at Leschi Park and of Mr. Lippy. Van Horst's criminal record in Victoria was yesterday found in police archives by Detective Tennant. In October 1897, Van Horst began a six-year term for housebreaking in the penitentiary at New Westminster, B.C.
“While one detective grabbed Van Horst's coat the other went ahead and under the street in the desolate cave under the wharf, on top of a pile, they found the two watches.”
The waterfront of King Street was once a gritty, industrial edge of Seattle where crime stories played out in the dark 'caves' beneath the piers. Today, that same area is the highly developed core of Pioneer Square and near the modern Seattle Ferry Terminal, a total transformation from the coal-dusted wharf where this thief hid his spoils.
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