The Great Wheat Fraud of Whitman County
A farmer’s widow fights for her grain after a bankrupt buyer leaves her with a worthless check and a vanishing act.
More trouble has arisen in a new quarter over wheat stored in warehouses. Monday, S. J. Chadwick and Trimble & Pattison, representing Mrs. A. A. Petty of Fallons, between Palouse and Pullman, filed a complaint in the superior court against C. W. Tracy, the bankrupt Portland grain buyer; G. W. Ford, his agent at Pullman; The Second National Bank of Colfax; Ed. W. Low, manager of the Weistand-Warner warehouse at Fallons; and Chas. De France, Tracy's agent at Colfax. The complaint alleges that during the fall of 1899, Mrs. Petty stored 4,721 bushels of wheat at the Weistand-Warner warehouse. In May 1900, she agreed to let Tracy ship the grain for storage on her account, provided he advanced her $1,300. Tracy and Ford issued her a check for that amount, but it was dishonored for lack of funds. Furthermore, the defendants allegedly transferred the wheat receipts to the Second National Bank of Colfax as collateral for Tracy's existing debts. Judge McDonald granted a restraining order to prevent the shipment of the wheat, but when authorities arrived to serve papers, the agent Ford had already fled town.
“It is alleged that Tracy is insolvent and utterly unable to respond in damages; that defendants threaten to, and will, remove the wheat from Whitman county unless restrained by the court.”
Agricultural logistics in the Palouse region remain a high-stakes arena where trust in storage and fair pricing is paramount. Today’s debates over market concentration and the 'middleman' echo the same vulnerability Mrs. Petty faced when her collateral was seized by a bank to settle a debtor's unpaid balance.
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