The Sailors' Union Agent and the Missing Men of Aberdeen
William Gohl, a labor agent, goes on trial for two murders — and authorities hint at a wider web of crime and corruption in the harbor city.
ABERDEEN — There opened in the Superior Court of this county at Montesano, Monday morning, a murder trial which, if rumors and present statements are to be believed, will surpass the Guiness murder farm episode and establish a new criminal record for the entire United States.
William Gohl, until his arrest some weeks ago agent of the local Sailors' Union, is specifically charged with the murders of Charles Hadberg, a sailor, and John Hoffman, formerly a cigar manufacturer of this city. But it is thoroughly believed by the sheriff's office, the police department and municipal authorities of Aberdeen that before the trial is over a horrible story of crime and corruption existing some years ago in this city will be revealed, and that not only will other murders be brought to light, but that more names, at present well known here, will be dragged into the affair.
Bearing a history that has several times crossed the police records, Gohl, if accounts are to be believed, has at last reached the end of his rope, but has saved enough to hang himself. The prosecution feels confident of the outcome. It has massed a great volume of evidence, both circumstantial and absolute, seriously damaging to Gohl.
“It is thoroughly believed by the sheriff's office, the police department and municipal authorities of Aberdeen that before the trial is over a horrible story of crime and corruption existing some years ago in this city will be revealed.”
A century before 'labor trafficking' entered the vocabulary, Aberdeen's Sailors' Union agent stood accused of preying on the very workers he was meant to represent. The case's promise of a wider ring of corruption echoes how port towns still wrestle with who watches the watchers of vulnerable labor.
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