The Elusive 'Seattle Swindler' Disappears Again
A young attorney leaves a trail of bad checks across the Pacific Coast, sparking confusion in the San Francisco police force.
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.
Lafayette Cole, a dashing and well-dressed young San Francisco lawyer, has become the subject of a frantic manhunt after leaving Seattle with unpaid debts and bad checks. Initially, telegrams suggested he had been arrested in San Francisco, but authorities later clarified that the man caught was not Cole. In Seattle, Cole visited the office of Wiestling & Wiestling, posed as a businessman, and obtained an endorsement for a $100 draft. The check was later protested. Cole's operations in California were far more extensive, with claims against him exceeding $5,000, yet he remains at large.
“He seems, however, to have effected a most complete disappearance, and until last night not even a rumor of his whereabouts had been received.”
This story highlights the era's reliance on interpersonal trust in business, which con artists were quick to exploit. It captures the pre-digital anxiety of trying to track a mobile criminal across state lines.
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