A Civil War Veteran Vanishes Between Saloon and Lodging
Charles Honige, a 71-year-old Olympia character known for selling hot weinerwurst after dark, left Hosneider's saloon at 10 p.m. and was never seen again.
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.
Charles Honige, who has figured as a character in this city for many years, is missing, and a continued search yesterday and today failed to reveal his whereabouts. Honige was 71 years of age, short and stout, with a stubby beard. He made his headquarters at Hadlan's and was familiarly known to many from the fact that he retailed hot weinerwurst after nightfall.
Honige left Hadlan's saloon on Saturday evening, saying he was going to his lodgings, which are on Fourth street bridge, near Littlejohn's stable. On his way home he stopped at Hosneider's saloon, which, Mr. Hosneider says, is his custom every night, and drew a chair to the stove to warm himself. He left Hosneider's at 10 o'clock, and that was the last seen of him.
Dan House, who also had lodgings with Honige, says the latter did not come home at all on Saturday night. Yesterday a number of men instituted search for him, but he could not be found. Again last night they took lanterns and went out on the mud flats, thinking to find the body, but the incessant bad weather made the work difficult and the search was abandoned. Today the police continued the search, but without avail.
Honige was a member of George H. Thomas Post, No. 5, and the post has taken the matter in hand. He received a small pension, and is supposed to have had $25 in his pocket. The supposition is that he either walked overboard and was drowned, or has been foully dealt with.
“He left Hosneider's at 10 o'clock, and that was the last seen of him.”
In 1891, an elderly veteran could vanish on a rainy Saturday night and the search ended at the mud flats with lanterns and bad weather. Today missing-person alerts, surveillance cameras and coordinated search teams would mobilize within hours—yet the case still turns on the same fragile trail of last sightings.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.