The Bogus Timber Inspector
A man's elaborate fabrication of a government appointment leads to a public scandal and an investigation into fraud.
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.
Monday morning a dispatch from Tacoma appeared in the Post-Intelligencer announcing the appointment by the secretary of the interior of John C. McIntosh as government timber inspector for Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. The district over which Mr. McIntosh was to preside was specially carved out for him and the office created in order to pay him $100 a week. The whole story, which evidently emanated from Mr. McIntosh, showed him to be one of the most favored individuals in the Democratic party. When John Carmichael, the inspector of United States surveyor general and district land offices, read it, he grew suspicious. Carmichael sent a telegram to the land commissioner: 'John McIntosh represents he is a special agent. Is he? He acts queer.' Yesterday he received the following message: 'This bureau has no McIntosh as special agent.' It appears McIntosh had his fondest hopes dashed, and he had even begun appointing his own deputies, not waiting for official word. The fact of representing oneself to be a United States government official is punishable, and the land department is investigating the matter thoroughly.
“He has been able to step only on high places for a few days, but now he will be content to walk on low ground.”
This incident of political grift—inventing a government job to solicit bribes and project status—captures the chaotic, speculative nature of the Washington Territory era. It serves as an early example of the 'fake official' fraud schemes that would plague the region for decades.
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