Missing Sailor Sparks Mystery at Tacoma Harbor
A coal passer from the USS Concord has vanished without touching his significant savings, leaving shipmates to fear foul play after he went ashore on leave.
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.
James Oakley, a coal passer on the United States gunboat Concord, is missing, and it is feared he has met with foul play. Oakley left the ship July 6, while the Concord was anchored in Tacoma harbor, and has not been heard from since. He obtained 24 hours shore leave and was landed at the Flyer dock. He was to have rejoined the boat at Bremerton, but as he has failed to do so, inquiry is being made as to his whereabouts, both by the officers of the Concord and his shipmates. It was known at the time the ship was in the harbor that several of the enlisted men had deserted and left for parts unknown, but it is not thought that Oakley was one of them. He had two months' pay coming to him and is said to have had between $500 and $600 besides this saved up. The latter amount is still in the safe keeping of an officer on the Concord. Harry Youngs, a friend of Oakley, who is also a sailor on the Concord, came to Tacoma Saturday to make inquiries about his friend.
“Oakley had no reason for wilfully deserting the service, as he was used well and seemed perfectly contented.”
Missing persons cases involving sailors in port towns were a common dark feature of Tacoma's maritime history. The suspicion of 'foul play' and the contrast between a deserter and a missing man remains a point of historical curiosity regarding the city's rough waterfront past.
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