Mystery Abduction in Ballard Grading Camp
A young man was dragged from his tent by two men posing as officers, leaving his family to fear he was shanghaied for a fishing crew.
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.
After being dragged from his bed in a grader's tent near Ballard at midnight by two men representing themselves as officers of the law, handcuffed, and led away in the darkness, Martin Oleson, 28, cannot be found in any city or county jail. Today, Sheriff Hodge detailed deputies to search for the missing man and the alleged officers. Oleson came from Bellingham two weeks ago and secured employment in a grading camp. His father is convinced that his son has been shanghaied to recruit the crew of some fishing vessel and has requested that a revenue cutter be detailed to search fishing craft along the bay.
“The father of the boy is convinced that his son has been shanghaied to recruit the crew of some fishing vessel.”
The fear of being 'shanghaied'—forcibly pressed into maritime labor—was a real danger in early 20th-century Puget Sound ports, highlighting the lawlessness that sometimes accompanied the region's rapid industrial expansion.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.