The Great Gate City Sawmill Heist
A rival mill proprietor orchestrates a midnight raid to steal his competition's machinery, only to get caught red-handed.
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.
A remarkable and unusual steal occurred at Gate City, about ten miles east of here. Gate City and its creek have two rival sawmills, and each is anxious to outdo the other in the established industry. In the dead of night, Mr. Yocum, proprietor of the rival mill at Gate City, made his way to Independence. He took the portable machinery and the saw-mill, leaving standing but the frame of the building. When Yocum got back to Gate City he gave the stolen property a coat of black paint to disguise it. He was later discovered, however, and bound over in $200 bail to the May term of the superior court.
“In the dead of night, Mr. Yocum... made his way to Independence. He took the portable machinery and the saw-mill, leaving standing but the frame of the building.”
Resource competition in the early Grays Harbor timber industry often led to cutthroat tactics. This story highlights the extreme lengths mill owners went to in a boom economy to sabotage competition and claim dominance over local infrastructure.
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