The Lawyer, the Spider, and the Disappearance
A prominent Spokane judge vanishes, only to be found in Seattle playing the 'innocent fly' to a traveling theatrical troupe.
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 of Judge Kinaird from Spokane has been solved. The Judge has joined a 'Spider and Fly' theatrical company, now in this city, as an admirer of Miss Marcelline, one of the leading performers of the company. Judge Kinaird is about 35 years old and has been a rather prominent lawyer in Spokane for several years past. About two weeks ago he became despondent and went around telling his friends that life had no more charms for him and began drinking and visiting questionable resorts. He claimed that he was without money, and when he dropped out of sight his friends came to the conclusion that the Spokane River had become the terminus of his career. They started dragging for the body, but, not recovering it, they relinquished the theory of suicide. It seems, however, that he had been caught in a finer net than that used by his Spokane friends, and that he is now playing the innocent fly to one of the agile 'spiders' of the theatrical company.
“He is now playing the innocent fly to one of the agile 'spiders' of the theatrical company.”
Public figures having dramatic, alcohol-fueled breakdowns in public view is a trope as old as the city itself. The transition from 'suicide by river' to 'runaway with a theater troupe' provides a vivid, if slightly tragic, snapshot of the pressures of professional life in the 1890s Pacific Northwest.
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