The Mysterious Bomb at the Postoffice
A suspicious package resembling a bomb creates a localized stir at the Seattle post office.
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 mysterious package was found near the post office. Mr. Conrad, who discovered it, reported that the object appeared to be a bomb. It was shaped like a cylinder, roughly a foot long, and wrapped in paper. Fearing the contents, local authorities took possession of the object to examine it. The device was filled with dynamite and fuses, with a hole in the top to admit the fuse. It remains unclear why anyone would wish to destroy the building, and Mr. Conrad was at a loss to explain the origin of the package.
“The object was filled with dynamite and fuses, with a hole in the top to admit the fuse.”
Paranoia over suspicious packages has been a civic anxiety in Seattle since the city's infancy. Today, such an event would trigger a massive bomb squad response, whereas in 1886, it was handled with the slightly more casual, albeit high-stakes, curiosity of a growing frontier town.
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