A Fool’s Errand at Leschi Park
A traveler, sick and seeking vacation, was 'taken' by a group of gamblers at the waterfront pavilion, leading to a trial that exposed the city's predatory underworld.
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.
Cyrus X. Rogers, a Wells Fargo agent from California visiting Seattle for his health, testified before Judge Glasgow regarding his robbery at Leschi Park. Rogers met a man who introduced him to another, and soon he was lured into a card game. While he refused to play, the men—identified as 'Fatty' Myers and John Sweeney—managed to snatch a $50 bill and his watch. In a strange twist, the thieves convinced Rogers that a third man, Jack Thompson, would 'buy' his own watch back for him, which Thompson did, pocketing the cash. Rogers finally reported the crime days later, prompting a police investigation into the city's notorious 'Whitechapel sharks'.
“Some one took interest enough in him to take him to police headquarters, where $240 was taken from him and he was locked up to sober off.”
Leschi Park, once a remote destination for gambling and confidence games, is now a serene public waterfront park. The incident highlights the 'shark' culture that often preyed on travelers in the late 19th-century boom years.
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