The Forger’s Hidden Fortune
A notorious bank forger serves time in Walla Walla, while his victims and the sheriff fight over the remains of his stolen loot.
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.
Judge Langley was yesterday engaged in trying one of the most remarkable garnishment suits on record. In the spring of 1890, a clever forger named W. M. White obtained over $13,000 from the Puget Sound and First National banks. After his arrest, Sheriff McGraw seized the money in White’s possession. Now, C. T. Wooding & Co., bankers of Aberdeen, are suing the Seattle banks to force them to share the recovered funds to cover their own losses. White, testifying via deposition from the state penitentiary, claims that when he was arrested, he had over $6,000 in cash, jewelry, and a St. Bernard pup, which were never fully accounted for by the authorities. The trial continues to determine if the recovered money belongs to the banks or is subject to the claims of other victims.
“I knew it was forged, and that it would not be paid... It seems to me that White being sent to the penitentiary is a pretty good proof.”
This case underscores the Wild West nature of early banking in Seattle, where law enforcement, local banks, and criminals operated in a gray area regarding recovered assets. The 'discovery' of the money by the sheriff, followed by immediate private transfers to bank cashiers, points to a time when civic institutions and private wealth were barely distinguishable.
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