Counterfeiters Caught in Gilman
A raid on a hotel room in Gilman reveals a makeshift mint producing fake gold coins.
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.
Thomas Rowley and Keily Ramsey, the alleged Gilman counterfeiters, were produced before United States Commissioner J. W. Spriggs yesterday afternoon. In evidence were produced dies for making $5 gold pieces and half dollars, base metal, and a bottle of liquid plating. Marshal McQuade testified that he and his deputies burst into the suspects' room at the Bellevue Hotel in Gilman, discovering Rowley holding a lamp while Ramsey worked the base metal in a stove. Rowley was held on $1,000 bail; Ramsey's hearing is set for the following day.
“Bursting it open, saw Rowley holding a lamp to light Ramsey as the latter was working with the base metal in the stove.”
Gilman, once a center for mining and local industry, is now known as Issaquah. The story serves as a reminder of the often-clandestine industrial activities occurring in the remote, fast-growing settlements surrounding the Seattle core in the late 19th century.
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