The Great Seattle Straw Hat Swindle
A smooth-talking grifter fleeced the crowds of Seattle by promising cheap hats, only to leave them holding handfuls of worthless paper.
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.
On Friday and Saturday last, a lively and amusing occurrence was witnessed at the corner of Commercial and Mill Streets. A large and noisy crowd, completely blocking the thoroughfare, gathered and remained for two hours, beguiled and soaped by an individual who had previously promised our local people a large package of hats at the 'big price.' The wily knave, to pelf and rozen the unwary part of the community, had constantly and unceasingly kept the ears of the crowd with his new, cheap, and ridiculous talk. After gathering the crowd, he represented that he would sell 212 hats at one dollar each, and would give away to the purchasers 212 more, continuing this swindle away. After this manifestation, the same as fast as he could, he retreated, entirely through the cheated participants, leaving naught but the bills except a little worthless paper. As a disaster ensues, they went away poorer but wiser.
“The wily knave, to pelf and rozen the unwary part of the community, had constantly and unceasingly kept the ears of the crowd with his new, cheap, and ridiculous talk.”
This 1879 report of a street-corner huckster captures the perennial anxiety of a growing frontier town, mirroring today’s fears regarding digital scams and the vulnerability of consumers in a rapidly developing Seattle.
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