The Confidence Game on the Kalama-Tacoma Line
A traveler from Missouri lost his life savings to a smooth-talking stranger on a train, proving that 'confidence men' were a perennial threat to those passing through the region.
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.
A stranger bound for Seattle was robbed of $400 by a confidence operator on the train between Kalama and Tacoma last Saturday. Shortly after the train left Kalama, a well-dressed man stepped into the smoking car and took a seat by the side of an immigrant. As the train sped along, the well-dressed man was equipped with good cigars, and occasionally, as he lighted a fresh one, treated the stranger by his side. Gradually quite a friendship sprang up between the two. The immigrant gave an account of his trip across the continent, and related a number of hair-breadth escapes he had from confidence men. The well-dressed man represented himself as a Seattle merchant on his way home from San Francisco. He said there were no confidence men on the Sound, and advised the stranger to look out for the light-fingered gentry. 'Here is where I carry my money,' said he, showing the stranger a buckskin pocket on the inside of his vest, 'and the slickest of them cannot get to my wallet.' By this time the stranger was becoming very fearful that he would have his pockets picked. His companion had compassion on him and said, 'Suppose you let me have your money to take care of till we reach Seattle. It will be safe in my inside pocket.' Thankful to his newly-made friend for this kind offer, the immigrant turned $400 in greenbacks over to the keeping of his benefactor, who placed it in his vest pocket. At Tacoma the two left the train together and walked up town, and had a drink at the alleged merchant's expense. On their way to the boat, the latter turned to his friend and said: 'By the way, I must telegraph my wife that I will be home to-night. Take my cane and valise and I will meet you at the boat.' The men separated, one with the cane and valise headed toward the boat, and the other making for up town to change his clothes. The immigrant, on arriving at the wharf, found the steamer ready to start, but no Seattle merchant. The valise contained nothing but two old shoes filled with mud and sand. The immigrant, now penniless, pawned the cane for a dollar to get to Tacoma, where he is now searching for the man who took his life savings.
“The valise contained nothing but two old shoes filled with mud and sand, which had probably been picked upon the Kalama or Tacoma beach for the occasion.”
The 'confidence game' was a staple of 19th-century reporting, reflecting the vulnerability of newcomers in a boomtown like Seattle. Today, this 'rhymes' with the digital-age social engineering and phishing scams that continue to target those new to the region's rapidly growing economy.
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