The Tragic Shooting at the Washington National Bank
A past attempt at self-harm by a bank clerk resurfaces as his colleague faces charges of embezzlement.
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.
It is not generally known that Thomas P. Beals, Jr., now held in jail to answer for the embezzlement of the Island County Bank at Coupeville, figured in a sensational shooting of bank clerk Charles C. Lanehart three years ago. Lanehart, clouded by drink, sat in the Washington National Bank and, after reading an item about a suicide, seized a revolver and shot himself in the chest. Beals, who was working late, assisted him and gave the initial account of the event. While Lanehart survived and disappeared, the incident shadowed Beals’ career until his current arrest for bank wrecking.
“His first idea was to use it to the same end that the man had concerning whom he had been reading. He could not resist the maddening impulse.”
This story highlights the high-stakes, stressful environment of early Seattle banking, where personal instability and corporate scandal were often intertwined. The public fascination with such 'sensational' narratives reflects a time when private banking failures were becoming a major civic concern.
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