The Unsolved Disappearance of Peter Stanup
Community anxiety grows in Tacoma over the vanishing of a prominent Puyallup leader, with theories of foul play and political suppression circulating.
The story, cleaned up
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Peter Stanup's friends say if he ever returns alive, they will celebrate by parading the street with a brass band. Everybody takes an interest in Peter's fate; every Indian who appears on the street is a target for questions from citizens. Charles Woodworth, who has led the search, says the opinion is gaining ground that Stanup was taken from his own door by parties hired to get him out of the way. Arrangements were in progress for representatives from the tribe to meet in Washington City next winter, and Stanup was to be chairman and president of the organization. Slanderous rumors that he was drunk and fell into the river are being circulated by his enemies. The circumstances of his disappearance, including his boat tied in the bushes and the dogs barking at the house, point to the theory that he was taken from his doorstep against his will.
“The talk circulated in Tacoma that he was drunk and fell into the river is a slander upon the character of one of the best men in state.”
The disappearance of Indigenous leaders during this period was often met with institutional indifference, if not active suppression, by local authorities and press. This account documents both the community's desperate search and the pervasive, biased rumors that sought to discredit Stanup at the time.
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