City Marshal Accused of Drugging and Robbing Traveler
A Georgetown lawman faces charges after an out-of-town visitor claims he was arrested, extorted, and left unconscious.
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, Aug. 31.—On complaint of I. B. Rice, who alleges that he was drugged and robbed in Georgetown Monday, City Marshal Klein, of that place, was arrested by Deputy Sheriff Nelson and City Detective Tennant last night and lodged in jail in this city. He was released early this morning on $1,000 bail. Another arrest may follow today, as the warrant on which Klein was apprehended calls for one John Doe, a Georgetown bartender, who is alleged to have administered the 'knockout drops' to Rice. The complainant is a recent arrival from Tennessee. Rice alleges that he was arrested by the marshal while waiting for a car to go to Seattle Sunday night. He gave the officer $30 cash bail to release him, and then, he says, he was taken to a saloon and compelled to drink liquor containing 'knockout drops.' He soon went into a stupor, and when he recovered Monday morning he was lying by the roadside and his money, $130, was missing. Investigation has corroborated his statements.
“He soon went into a stupor, and when he recovered Monday morning he was lying by the roadside and his money, $130, was missing.”
This 1904 incident highlights a period of significant police corruption and the vulnerability of transients in the rapidly expanding Seattle-Tacoma metropolitan area. The 'knockout drop' scam—doping a victim in a saloon to strip them of their cash—was a recurring hazard for newcomers throughout the early 20th century.
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