A Cabin Burned, a Man Vanished Near Enumclaw
George Eigensteller disappeared from his cabin near Enumclaw; the next morning the cabin burned, and no remains were found in the ruins.
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.
George Eigensteller, a German living about two miles from Enumclaw, has disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. He was last seen in his cabin by passers-by last Thursday evening. His cabin was burned down the next morning and was seen by Mrs. McMillan, a near neighbor. A thorough investigation of the ruins has failed to disclose any signs of his remains as was anticipated, for he has been acting strangely for some time back, and the general opinion was that he had fired his cabin and then committed suicide. He was a strongly built young man of perhaps 25 years of age, and was always a hard worker and not given to dissipation.
“His cabin was burned down the next morning ... and a thorough investigation of the ruins has failed to disclose any signs of his remains.”
A disappearance, a fire and no body: the Enumclaw case has the shape of a modern missing-person investigation, but in 1892 there was no forensic team, no DNA and no statewide database. It reminds us how easily a person could vanish at the edge of a growing city.
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