The Tragedy of the Basset Fortune
A wealthy Seattle scion, accused of murdering a bartender, is found legally insane by a commission.
SEATTLE — The lunacy commission appointed by Judge A. W. Frater to examine Wallace A. Basset, the son of C. B. Basset, a millionaire timber land owner, has returned a report finding the youth insane. Basset was accused of murder in the first degree for killing Joseph Bonner, a bartender, while raiding a gambling resort in the King Street district on May 12.
“The lunacy commission appointed by Judge A. W. Frater to examine Wallace A. Basset... returned a report that the youth is insane.”
Wealth and mental health defenses were as much a fixture of early Seattle crime reporting as they are today. The King Street district, once the center of such gambling raids, is now a historic landmark zone near Pioneer Square.
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