The Gold Hunter Who Vanished in Seattle
An electrical engineer accused of homicide in Honduras disappears after weeks in Seattle, leaving a dead companion and an unanswered expedition behind.
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, Feb. 13. — Dwight B. Clough, an electrical engineer of Los Angeles, who has been in this city since January 23, has disappeared. In Honduras an accusation of homicide has been placed against him.
Clough advertised some time ago for men to accompany him to Honduras on a gold hunting expedition. Among those who accompanied him from Los Angeles was Jefferson D. Etter, who shortly after the party reached their destination was found dead in the woods, shot under conditions that suggested foul play.
“Among those who accompanied him from Los Angeles was Jefferson D. Etter, who shortly after the party reached their destination was found dead in the woods, shot under conditions that suggested foul play.”
A century later, the story reads like a true-crime podcast: a promising engineer, a gold expedition to Central America, a dead companion and a suspect who slips away. Seattle’s role as a transient port city—easy to arrive in, easy to disappear from—still shapes how fugitives are tracked across borders.
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