The Diamond Watch in the Woods
A hunter discovers the remains of a missing San Francisco liquor merchant in the brush near Port Townsend, ending a long mystery.
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.
The mystery surrounding the disappearance from this city in April 1891, of Henry A. Maison, senior member of Maison & Keldtman, wholesale liquor dealers of San Francisco, was cleared up this afternoon. Near Irving Park, three miles from town, in a cluster of nearly impenetrable undergrowth, a skeleton was found by Jos Hoffman, a hunter. On the skeleton were trousers, shirt, and underclothing. In the vest was found a gold watch set with diamonds, a package of letters addressed to the deceased, $32, a few pocket coins, and a bunch of safe keys. The circumstances point conclusively that Maison, while temporarily demented, wandered off in the woods and died. His relatives employed special detectives and spent a large sum of money hunting for the missing man.
“In the vest was found a gold watch set with diamonds, a package of letters addressed to the deceased, $32, a few pocket coins, and a bunch of safe keys.”
The discovery of a wealthy man dead in the woods highlights the contrast between the rough, untamed wilderness surrounding Port Townsend in the 1890s and the sophisticated mercantile life of San Francisco. It serves as a reminder of how quickly the 'civilized' world could vanish into the Pacific Northwest forests.
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