The $31.15 in a Drowned Man's Pocket
When Charles Honick's body washed up near Priest Point, Olympia wondered if he had been murdered. The cash still in his clothes told a different story.
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 remains of Charles Honick, who was drowned some weeks ago, were brought to the undertaking establishment of Harned & Bates yesterday. The body was found face downward on the beach, near Priest's Point. The nose and eyes had entirely disappeared and over the eye was a small gash, as though having been struck.
A search of the clothing revealed $31.15 in cash, a key, and some trinkets. George H. Thomas Post, of which Honick was a member, decided last night to hold the funeral services on Sunday at 2 o'clock, from Grand Army hall. The services will be read by Rev. T. J. Lamont, and interment will follow in Odd Fellows cemetery. The post will ask the superior court to appoint W. H. Roberts as administrator of the estate.
Honick has been in Olympia about four years, having come here from Kansas, where he has a divorced wife and several children. The fact that the money was found on his person disposes of the supposition that he was foully dealt with.
The pallbearers appointed by the post last night were Comrades Hutchinson, Ellsworth, Gray, Wilcox, Riesenweber and Best. Post Commander Archibald Adams will appoint a guard of honor at the services. The committee on funeral arrangements consists of Comrades Bedford, Work and Sabin, who request that any citizens or friends who have carriages or conveyances to spare will have them at the corner of Main and Thirteenth street tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
“The fact that the money was found on his person disposes of the supposition that he was foully dealt with.”
A century before modern forensics, a community's verdict often turned on what a body carried. Here, $31.15 and a key were enough to quiet talk of murder and let the Grand Army post bury one of its own. The same questions—who the dead was, and who answers for them—still shape how cities respond when a body is found at the water's edge.
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