The Cashier, the Milliner, and the Missing Payroll
A Seattle steamboat cashier leaves his post—and a significant sum of company money—to elope with a milliner, triggering a city-wide sensation.
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.
Clarence E. Evans, a young man who had been employed as the cashier of the Seattle, Lake Shore and Transportation Company, has departed the city under a cloud, and the company has discovered a significant shortage in their accounts. At first, little was thought of his departure, as he was considered a trustworthy and exemplary young man. However, rumors of the young man’s romance began to circulate, and shortly after, the truth came to light. It was on Friday, July 12, that Evans left the office for Tacoma. With him departed a young woman who had been employed in the millinery department of a shop, known as Miss Vicker. It was further learned that Evans had the company's payroll in his possession. The departure of the pair was carried out with a degree of secrecy. The wedding ceremony was performed by the Rev. John F. Damon. The information created a positive sensation at the office of the steamboat company. An examination of his books revealed that he had been pilfering funds since the first of the month, totaling between $1,000 and $2,000. While his friends maintained that he was simply a young man in love, the fact that he was a defaulter cast a dark shadow over his sudden marriage.
“While his friends maintained that he was simply a young man in love, the fact that he was a defaulter cast a dark shadow over his sudden marriage.”
This 1885 scandal of a white-collar worker absconding with company funds for an elopement echoes the perennial fascination with the 'trusted employee' gone rogue. In the early days of Seattle's rapid expansion, such breaches of trust were not just personal dramas but civic crises that threatened the stability of the burgeoning infrastructure projects the city relied on.
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