The Best Horseman in the State, Accused of Leading a Horse-Thieving Ring
A well-known Walla Walla boy working as a hospital cook in Seattle is arrested and hauled to North Yakima, charged as the ringleader of a fifteen-to-twenty-man gang of horse thieves.
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.
Charged with being the ringleader of a bold gang of horsethieves operating in the Yakima country, George Haven, a well-known Walla Walla boy, is under arrest at North Yakima. Haven was arrested at the King county hospital Monday, where he and his wife have been employed as cooks for some time. Sheriff Grant, who made the arrest, took Haven to Yakima for trial.
Young Haven, who left Walla Walla some time ago, has been employed at the hospital for some months. Haven did the cooking and his wife attended to the baking and light work around the hospital, for which they received $85 per month.
The specific offense charged against Haven is complicity in the theft of horses from a Yakima rancher about a year and a half ago. The horses were recovered after a long chase. Suspicion was directed at the time toward Haven and others as the perpetrators, but sufficient evidence could not be secured to warrant their arrest. Some time ago additional evidence was obtained and it was then decided to arrest the suspects, but Haven could not be located until a few days ago.
The gang is said to number fifteen or twenty and to include several ranch owners. It was intimated in the local sheriff's office that the Yakima authorities hope to induce Haven to turn state's evidence, in order to obtain information incriminating other members of the gang. Sheriff Grant stated that three other arrests are to be made at once.
Haven denies any and all knowledge of the offense for which he is arrested, or any other. While in Yakima county he was a "broncho buster," and is said to be one of the best horsemen in the state. He rode the range for a year or two, and came over to Seattle last June, but it was supposed for a time that he had returned to this city.
Just before Haven was taken from the county jail his wife and her father and mother, who live in Seattle, called to see him and accompanied him with considerable baggage. All are respectable looking people. Mrs. Haven is rather pretty. Haven is a pleasant looking young man. He is below medium height and weighs about 135 pounds. He professes the utmost confidence in a favorable outcome of his trouble.
“While in Yakima county he was a 'broncho buster,' and is said to be one of the best horsemen in the state.”
A hometown boy accused of running with a horse-thieving ring — the story turns on the presumption of guilt that follows a name into print, and the paper lingers on his clean-cut looks and his in-laws' luggage as much as on the charge. Then as now, a Walla Walla family name in the paper could make or break a young man's future, and the accused's quiet profession of innocence is the only defense he gets.
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