Arson Trial Reveals a West Seattle Cover-Up
A grocery store owner on trial for burning his own shop admits to paying 'hush money' to witnesses after becoming 'confused and crushed' by his losses.
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.
W. L. Pencil's second trial for arson, on a charge of setting fire to his grocery store in West Seattle to obtain the insurance, last April, was begun before Judge Humes yesterday. Pencil has been held in the county jail since April. He was tried last May, but the jury failed to agree. William Orrenshaw, the bartender of Stewart's saloon, which was destroyed in the same fire, was the principal witness. He testified that he saw Pencil walk through the storeroom and out of the back door immediately after the alarm was given. After the fire, a conference was contrived at the Palace hotel in Seattle. As a result of the conference, Pencil agreed to give Stewart $500, paying him $25 down and giving his note for $475, in consideration of which Stewart agreed to 'say nothing.' The defendant testified that he was confused and crushed by his loss, and paid the money, hardly knowing what he did. He had heard that he was suspected of setting the building afire and that efforts were being made by Stewart to prevent his recovering the insurance, and accepted their proposition to pay them $500 on condition that they were to say nothing about it.
“The defendant testified that he was confused and crushed by his loss, and paid the money, hardly knowing what he did.”
Insurance fraud remains a common criminal motive, though the dramatic, trial-by-saloon-gossip culture of 1890s West Seattle has evolved into more sophisticated forensic investigation.
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