From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The irony of hermits is that the more they desire to be alone, the more attention they garner. The hermit becomes an object of curiosity. For example, a character by the name of “Buckskin Joe” certainly got my interest when I randomly found the following short article on the front page of The Concrete Herald, Feb. 21, 1914:

HERMIT OF UPPER SKAGIT IS FOUND DEAD IN CABIN

“Quincy A. Eaton, a recluse who has lived alone in a small cabin on Bacon creek, above Marblemount, for the past fifteen years, was found dead in his cabin by a neighbor last week. Indications were that he had been dead for several days before he was discovered. Burial was made near the cabin he had occupied for so many years.”

“Nothing definite is known of Eaton prior to his coming to Skagit valley. He was apparently well educated and was said to have relatives prominent in public life. He lived a primitive life in his little cabin and refused to have any intercourse with travelers or neighbors, never speaking when it was possible to avoid it. He was generally known as ‘Buckskin Joe’ because of the garb he adopted after his arrival.”

Thanks to the Chronicling America project, I was able to locate one article about Buckskin Joe during his lifetime. It came from the June 30, 1897 issue of the San Francisco Call. It was headlined: WILD MAN OF SKAGIT COUNTY.

Identified simply as Buckskin Joe, farmers and miners in the area testified in the article that this wild hermit had set up a couple primitive structures on Bacon Creek. One of them was a strange convoluted tree house, from which Joe watched any visitor. “He absolutely refuses to associate with any one and always carries a rifle, a revolver, and a big knife. His cartridge belt holds an immense amount of ammunition and is always around his neck. He is nearly asleep until some one comes within hearing distance, when his frightful-looking head appears and the visitor looks into the barrel of his rifle.”

The nearest big city newspaper to cover Joe’s demise was the Bellingham Herald. The headline read HERMIT LEAVES NO TRACE OF IDENTITY IN DEATH in the Feb. 18, 1914 issue.

This article included: “For nine years the government has permitted him to live within the forest under sufferance. He had been dead in his bed for probably two weeks when his cabin was entered last week. A traveler’s dog howling at the door of the cabin attracted attention to the place and a resident investigated when he received no response to his calls for the hermit. The body was interred in the rear yard of the cabin, under the potato patch which the hermit cared for studiously during past years.”

“Despite several attempts to make him sociable, the hermit remained ‘the silent man of the mountain.’ He would pass wayfarers with his head down, refusing to acknowledge salutation or greeting. Where he came from or what his connections were is not known further than at one time he tersely informed residents that his brother was a United States senator.”

Except for a brief mention in JoAnn Roe’s 1997 book North Cascades Highway : Washington’s Popular and Scenic Pass, a superficial survey of Skagit County historical material didn’t turn up any information on Buckskin Joe.

However, there is one document that serves as a stepping stone in uncovering Buckskin Joe’s past: The U.S. Census. He is in there for 1910. It is so strange a hermit like Buckskin Joe would be so cooperative in providing information, but perhaps the Feds told him that if he wanted them to continue turning a blind eye to his presence on public property, he better play along.

With the help of our online genealogical resources at WSL I was able to locate more documents and eventually came into contact with Cheryl Eaton, one of the historians for that family. She was able to fill in several gaps.

Quincy Adams Eaton was born Oct. 5, 1849 in Lanawee County, Mich. He was the 7th of the 11 children of Christopher Columbus Eaton (1810-1877) and Eleanor (Lamberson) Eaton (1817-1893). Quincy was apparently known as “Tuney.”

According to Cheryl, Christopher Columbus Eaton “was a forward thinking man and most of his children graduated from the State Normal School in Ypsilanti, MI or the Michigan Agricultural College.” By the early 1870s, many members of the Eaton family had migrated to Colorado Territory to join the Union Colony at Greeley.

For some reason Quincy’s application for a deed at Union Colony was refused, Mar. 21, 1871. He migrated to the area of present-day Merino, Colo., where he taught school, ran a stagecoach line and mail route (soon made obsolete when the railroad arrived), and possibly raised cattle. He apparently never married. After 1882 he vanishes from the record until he shows up as “Buckskin Joe” in Skagit County, Wash. over a dozen years later.

By the time he was discovered up here, most of his family had passed on. One brother had been killed in the Civil War, and another, George Washington Eaton, was killed by Ute Indians in the Meeker Massacre, Sept. 1879. Although Quincy was not related to any U.S. Senators, his brother Oscar Eaton (1847-1895) was a banker and prominent Ohio Republican, having attended the 1892 National Convention as a delegate.

So where was Buckskin Joe 1882-1896? What drove him into the woods to lead a life of militant solitude? If you have any additional information on this intriguing character in Washington State history, we would love to hear from you.

Kim Wyman, who will be sworn in as Washington’s 15^th Secretary of State, announced her choices for her executive team Friday December 7.  In making her appointments, Wyman consulted with outgoing Secretary of State Sam Reed, senior managers and others both inside and outside of government.  In her email, she described the team as “a mix of people from within and outside the office, with a wide variety of experience and perspectives.”

Rand Simmons was chosen as Washington State Librarian effective January 16, 2013 when Wyman takes office. Simmons has been Acting State Librarian since September 2010. Kim and her Executive Team visited the Washington State Library to make the announcement to library staff.

See this link for a full story detailing Ms. Wyman’s choices for her Executive Leadership Team and Division Directors.

Discover free and inexpensive trainings available online and around the state; compiled by Jennifer Fenton, CE/Training Coordinator, Washington State Library

Featured Free Trainings:

Registration information for the below trainings and webinars is available at: http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/libraries/training/trainingCalendar.aspx

 Washington State Library is pleased to offer the following FREE online training in December:

 First Tuesdays: Exploring Washington Rural Heritage Digital Collections

December 4, 9:00-10:00 a.m. PT

Join us as Washington State Library’s Evan Robb and Ross Fuqua provide an introduction to searching, browsing, and exploring Washington Rural Heritage, a digital repository for Washington’s public libraries. The presentation will demonstrate advanced search functionality, website navigation, and integration of social media and collection visualization components. Presented by Evan Robb and Ross Fuqua, Washington State Library.

For these and many more free and low-cost trainings, visit the Washington State Library Training calendar which is constantly being updated, so check back frequently.

WebJunction Washington Courses (must be logged into WJ WA to view courses):

WebJunction has launched the new site; here is some information to help you understand the new WebJunction Washington. There are now two sites, the portal page which does not require a log-in and the course catalog which requires affiliation with Washington to access free courses. Courses are unlimited.

New portal website: http://www.webjunction.org/partners/washington.html

*Please note that the content has not yet been added, so it is a skeleton website at this time.

New Learning Management System for courses:

• New members: https://www.webjunction.org/find-training/request-access/ 

• Existing WJ WA members: To sign in, go https://oclc.plateau.com/plateau/user/login.jsp

User ID: USERID; Password: WebJunction

Early registration for January WebJunction webinars is now open:

The Impact of an Ice Cream Sundae

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 ♦ 11 am Pacific ♦ 60 min

Early Registration: http://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/The_Impact_of_an_Ice_Cream_Sundae.html

What does an ice cream sundae have to do with library partnerships? Let’s pretend that your community organizations (school, academic, public and special libraries, and other local organizations) are your favorite kind of ice cream. Now let’s ladle your favorite toppings over the ice cream to represent  the organizations’ resources, programs, personnel and funding.  How can the ice cream “mix” with the toppings to be the most luscious dessert possible for the most people?  When community organizations collaborate to share their resources with one another, they make the biggest possible impact on the most lives. Learn easy, understandable and powerful strategies that will give you renewed energy to create bold and imaginative collaborations among all types of community organizations.

Presented by: Kathy Jacobs, Director, Yankton (SD) Community Library

Creating a Culture of Innovation in your Library and Community

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 ♦ 10 am Pacific ♦ 60 min

Early Registration:  http://www.webjunction.org/events/webjunction/Creating_a_Culture_of_Innovation.html

We hear about libraries that are leaders in innovation, implementing ideas that keep the library growing and vital. Perhaps you have watched from the sidelines and wished you could kickstart some innovation at your library, but you’re not sure where to start. Come to this webinar for an active and lively discussion on how to find innovative ideas, how to connect with the people to help make them happen, and how to get buy-in and support for your ideas. There is a lot to be learned from other libraries’ examples and experiences.

Presented by: Heather Braum, Digital & Technical Services Librarian at the Northeast Kansas Library System, blogger at www.heatherbraum.info, and 2010 Kansas Library Association’s New Professional of the Year.

 For many more free and low-cost trainings, visit the Washington State Library Training calendar which is constantly being updated, so check back frequently.

 For more information on these and many more CE events, continue reading….

 Training Opportunities in December 2012

For full information, please click on the link or visit http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/libraries/training/trainingCalendar.aspx

*Please note that all times are listed in PT on this list, some webinar registrations will reflect other time zones

12/3/2012: Makerspaces: A New Wave of Library Service
12/3/2012: Open Mic Night with Dr. Joyce Valenza!
12/4/2012: First Tuesdays
12/4/2012: Tech-Savvy Staff: Better Service for Library Users
12/4/2012: Create a Story and Tell it Too: Engaging Supporters with Online Video
12/4/2012: Reading is a Superpower! Comic Books, Graphic Novels, & Literacy
12/5/2012: Applying the 70:20:10 Enterprise Learning Model
12/5/2012: Branding yourself and your library career on LinkedIn
12/5/2012: It’s Not Just for Kids Anymore: Adult Summer Reading Programs
12/6/2012: How to Create Your Own Library (or Personal!) Knowledge Base.
12/6/2012: Assessing the Cloud for Nonprofits and Libraries
12/6/2012: Outreach Programs in Rural Communities: Simple Steps for Surprising Results
12/6/2012: Lerner Publishing Group Spring 2013 Librarian Preview Webinar
12/7/2012: Tech Tools With Tine: 1 Hour of Evernote
12/7/2012: Accessibility Handbook: Making 508-Compliant Websites
12/10/2012: Bozarthzone! Nuts and Bolts of Social Media
12/11/2012: Better Together: Tech Trainers Sharing Expertise
12/11/2012: Creating a Comprehensive and Engaging Volunteer Training Program
12/11/2012: Mobile Accessibility – The Status of Accessibility in Mobile Devices
12/12/2012: What Would Walt Do?: Quality Customer Service for Libraries
12/12/2012: Polite Debate Society
12/12/2012: Basic Graphic Design for Library Staff: Quick and Easy Solutions
12/12/2012: Perfect Phrases for Fundraising
12/13/2012: Making the Choice: Mobile Solutions for Your Library

 **Please note that times and topics are subject to change and WSL is not responsible for non-WSL events. Please verify time and topic when registering. Also, new webinars are added to the training calendar throughout the month as time allows, so please check back. This is only a partial list of free CE Events available online.

 Archived presentations:

Don’t have time to catch these courses live? Many are available later as an archived presentation. To view archives, visit the following sites:

Infopeople

Common Knowledge

School Library Journal

Booklist

Tech Soup

Library Journal

SirsiDynix Institute

WebJunction

NCompass Live

Texas State Library

American Management Association

Carterette Series Webinars Archive: Georgia Library Association

* WSL provides information about outside training events for your convenience only; please contact the event sponsor for the most up-to-date information and all questions about the event.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

This item was found in The Chesaw News, July 5, 1912:

  A FREAK EGG

 An Egg Within An Egg, Both Perfect, At Baker Ranch.

 “Mrs. Stanton Baker is among the many who have turned their attention to poultry raising on a little larger scale than usual this season, having invested in blooded stock from a well known outside breeder of leghorns. While the season is yet too young for anyone to come forward with a claim for honors in producing something unusual or phenomenal in the bird line, Mrs. Baker is entitled to the ‘bun’ as the possessor of the greatest freak of an egg this country has produced, and one which would hardly be found in a decade anywhere, although one such specimen was reported found.”

“The egg measured 8 inches around the long way, 7 1/2 inches the shortest place, and weighed very little less than a half pound. Had there been any geese around the farm it would have been credited up to them, but it was laid by a hen and handled with care as its importance was fully realized. After a few days curiosity prompted the breaking of the egg and here the real surprise was sprung. It contained the full ingredients that customarily accompany a slice of ham to the farm table, but it also contained another perfectly formed and normal sized egg with hard shell. The inner egg was also broken and was found to be perfect as a normal product.”

As it turns out, finding an egg within an egg is highly unusual, but more common than you might think. In fact, as I was compiling this random news piece, WSL’s National Digital Newspaper Program Coordinator Shawn Schollmeyer pointed out a new egg within an egg story in the news out of Abilene, Texas on June 5, 2012.

It is the town of Chesaw itself that is just as unusual as the egg within the egg.

Although you can still see a very small place called Chesaw on a map in the highlands of Okanogan County, most of the information to be found on this settlement are in books about ghost towns and former boom towns in Washington State. Norman D. Weis provides an unflattering and unvarnished summary of the history of the place in his Ghost Towns of the Northwest (1971):

“Chesaw was named after ‘Chee-Saw,’ early Chinese settler who took an Indian wife and settled near a commonly traveled ford on Meyer’s Creek. In the 1800’s visitors to Chee-Saw’s Ford spotted some traces of gold in the creek. Word of the gold spread, but since the area was in the Colville Indian Reservation, no prospecting was allowed. In 1896, with morals adjusted to fit the pocketbook, the white man opened half the reservation to mineral claims. Promptly, most of the good pastures and fields were taken by whites as placer claims. The townsite of Chesaw was laid out on land obtained by filing a half-dozen false claims side by side. Some honest mineral claims were made, however, on outcrops that looked promising … By 1900 Chesaw was a sizeable log community of two hundred population. It grew rapidly into a full-blown town with two three-story frame hotels, and a population (on a Saturday night, and counting dogs) that neared the one-thousand mark.”

Maybe the egg within an egg was an omen. By 1920 the town was declining rapidly. The Greenwood Saloon, one of many such establishments in Chesaw, added a steeple and bell on the roof, converting  the structure’s use to serving as local Methodist Church– perhaps as a sign of belatedly making up for the method of founding the settlement.  But apparently the effort was too little too late.

For further reading see Okanogan Highland Album (1987) and Okanogan Highland Echoes (1962 and 1986 editions)

Washington State Library continues to celebrate Native American Heritage month by focusing on the history of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce.

The Nimi’ipuu (meaning “The Real People”) founded their villages in a 17 million acre swath of land that extended from the Bitteroot to the Blue mountains, especially along the banks of the Clearwater, Salmon, and Snake River drainages.  Their language is a part of the Sahaptian sub division of the Penutian linguistic family found  in the Western Plateau of North America. They had a wealth of resources in their mountainous home region but often migrated outside of ancestral lands to gather and hunt during certain seasonal cycles.

The Nimi’ipuu were dubbed Nez Perce (“pierced nose”) by French Candaian Fur Traders in the late 18th Century.  The Nez Perce witnessed the explosion of European settlement that occurred in the very brief half century since their interactions with traders and explorers such as Lewis and Clark.  With the Nez Perce Treaty of June 11, 1855, a portion of the Nez Perce leadership gathered at the Walla Walla Council signed away roughly 9.5 million acres of traditional lands (the treaty was ratified by the federal government March 8th and proclaimed on April 29th 1959), that relegated the tribes to the remaining 7.5 million acre reservation that spanned portions of the Idaho, Oregon and Washington Territories.

When gold was discovered in the region now known as Lewiston, ID, in 1860, the United States failed to maintain the terms of the treaty, leading to an influx of white settlers into Nez Perce Treaty lands.  Three years later, a splinter group of the Nez Perce leadership signed away all but 75,000 acres of their ancestral lands.  A large portion of the Nez Perce did not accept the validity of the treaty and refused to relocate to the acreage, located in Idaho, that was set aside.  These non-treaty Indians included Chief Joseph, who stayed near his ancestral lands in Oregon’s Wallowa Valley.  Tensions and violence between non-treaty Nez Perce and European settlers arose from the refusal of treaty demands for relocation.  In June of 1877 Chief Joseph and other non-treaty leaders agreed to relocate to Fort Lapwai, ID, but a group of tribal members, outraged at past wrongs, attacked Idaho settlers in the Camas Prairie region.  When Joseph arrived to the encampment and saw the devestation, he understood it as a declaration of war, realized an appeal for peace was futile, and began a fighting retreat across Idaho, Wyoming and Montana that ultimately deposited the fighting Nez Perce in Bear’s Paw Mountains of Montana, a short distance from the Canadian border.

On September 30, 1877, the United States Army’s Seventh Calvary, led by Gen, Nelson A. Miles, intercepted Joseph and the Nez Perce at Snake Creek in a surprise attack.  The two forces fiercely fought throughout the three day stand-off until General Oliver Howard and his soldiers arrived, throwing the balance of forces off.  On October 5, 1877 Chief Joseph surrendered, and in doing so, delivered a speech that, through interpretation by C.E.S. Wood, immortalized him.  Instead of being sent to the Idaho reservation as promised by Gen. Miles, the non-treaty Nez Perce were sent to Fort Buford, KS under orders from commanding Army General William Tecumseh Sherman.  Later they were transferred to live in a swampy section of Fort Leavenworth, KS and many tribe members contracted and perished from malaria.  In 1879 Chief Joseph petitioned the President Rutherford B. Hayes and the Congress for relocation to Idaho or Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma.  Due to rejection by Idahoans the band moved to Tonkawa, OK, where they remained until 1885 when they finally returned to the Pacific Northwest to join the Colville Reservation in Washington Territory.  It is in the Collville lands that Chief Joseph passed away September 21, 1904.

The story of Chief Joseph : from where the sun now stands / by Bruce A. Wilson. Okanogan, WA : Okanogan County Historical Society, [2006], c1960. R OVERSIZ 979.5004 WILSON 2006. In Library use only.

From the futuristic desk of Shawn Schollmeyer.

With 100,000 pages contributed each two year grant cycle from over 30 states and reaching for participation by all 50 states, the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) is the biggest digital newspaper project in U.S. history and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC). Each of those 5.2 million pages need related lines of code and metadata along with the page images.  Title, city, date, as well as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) files that turn an image into machine-readable text, allow users to search newspaper content on the Chronicling America website.

That’s a lot of files! Who manages all these files? Less than a dozen people at Library of Congress support the websites & wikis, upload files, and help project managers learn the NDNP digitization process. Here in Washington State, we rely on this handful of people to guide us on best practices for digitization and image standards for our participation in the program.  In September, all the participating states gathered to meet our sponsors, advisors, and fellow awardees to discuss the great ways people are using the content from this project.  At the end of the three day conference, our heads are filled with practical knowledge of processes, resources, and exciting new ideas. While I was there I had the rare opportunity to meet the magicians behind the curtain…

Our main contact for the National Digital Newspaper Program in Washington, DC is Chris Ehrman. Nearly a librarian by birth (his parents are both librarians), Chris began his newspaper experience in the University of Utah Ski Archives , uploading photos and video of America’ favorite winter sport before moving on to the NDNP program in Montana. There he honed his technical expertise learning the selection and upload process for Montana’s newspaper collection, becoming a great candidate for the Library of Congress’ Digital Conversion Specialist position. Chris is our “go-to” man when we have questions about how to resolve the challenges of working with so many files and metadata. If the data checks out OK, Chris prepares the scripts to load files for the automatic ingestion process so the newspaper images will appear in the Chronicling America database. He also supports the LC’s NDNP website.

There are four Digital Conversion Specialists who evaluate and help load our submitted batches of files to the website. Missing pages, cataloging conflicts, or date misprints are among the situations that may flag a batch for further review.  These four take turns validating batches from all awardees for final approval in addition to their specialized tasks, which include validation tool support and digitizing from LC’s own historic newspaper collection.  Chris estimates that they see 150,000-180,000 pages per month, translating to about six terabytes. One of their biggest challenges is to keep the workflow moving and avoid bottlenecks in the system.

Robin Butterhof is another LC specialist. Friendly & energetic, Robin supports the NDNP wiki page that contains the technical specifications, trainings, tools, deliverables, and state by state project information. She is a woman of many talents, having held several different library jobs, including book publishing, reference librarian, non-profit work and consulting, all while attending classes as a library student. Excellent training for the many tasks she juggles daily at LC.

Formerly the library was shoehorned into a series of small rooms on the main floor of the Roslyn City Hall. A combination of civic fundraising and grant writing allowed the City of Roslyn to jack the historic building up and rebuild and renovate the space beneath the main floor.

The City Library now inhabits a spacious portion of that ground floor with the Roslyn City Council Chambers.  These quarters are only temporary as the City intends to move forward with remodeling the original main floor.  When the remodel is finished, the library will move back upstairs.  The downstairs will then become a series of meeting rooms and offices.

Hundreds of hours of local volunteer labor and thousands of dollars of community fundraising made the new furniture, technology and new materials which grace the remodeled Roslyn possible. Highlights of the space:

• Light pours into the space from the numerous windows.
• The wooden shelving salvaged from the downtown Seattle Nakumura Court House blends beautifully with the new furniture.

  

  The bench was a find that is very popular with folks who like to sit while selecting audio and large print books.

• A wide bench which has quickly become a favorite spot for customers to sit and peruse new adult materials was a local find on Craigslist. Handcrafted from old growth Douglas fir and put together with no nails, it’s even better because the craftsman is a library patron.
• The local art wall which coexists next to a salvaged jail door from the original City Jail. Picturing America, National Endowment for Humanities grant, was the genesis of Roslyn’s effort to highlight their local artists on a rotating basis.
• The jail door adds historical flavor with a story on the wall from a former inmate.  The inmate reports that he went out a convenient window to collect his shoes from home and was back in his jail cell without the jailer being any wiser.

Roslyn City library patrons are justly proud of their new library space.

To see more pictures of the Roslyn library, visit our Flickr page!

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The following article was found at random in the July 31, 1908 issue of The Ephrata Journal. What is it describing? Swamp gas? A fog anomaly? A strange portal into another dimension?

 HARRINGTON FOLKS ARE PERPLEXED

 LAKE SURROUNDED BY DARKNESS WHILE SUN IS SHINING

 Queer Phenomena Vouched for by Leading Citizens of Lincoln County Town But No Explanation is Vouchsafed — Discovered by Accident by Farmer Fulton Who Felt Creepy.

 “The most remarkable natural phenomenon that has ever mystified the people of this section of the country has been discovered at a point six miles northwest of Harrington, at what is locally known as Swamp Lake. There is no light there. Darkness all-enfolding envelops the region during the twenty-four hours of the day and one day after another. The darkness is not a twilight, but a pitch-like, inky blackness. Many people have visited the locality during the past three days and all agree that the phenomenon is uncanny.”

“The first man to experience the peculiar sensation of driving out of the bright sunshine into a night black like the darkness of the mammoth cave in Kentucky was R.S. Fulton, a prominent and veracious rancher residing a mile beyond the lake. Speaking of the peculiar condition Fulton said:”

“‘I drove to Harrington with my family and we were returning home about 2 o’clock in the afternoon when, coming around the bend in the road which skirts the lake, we suddenly drove into deep twilight and then utter darkness. My smallest daughter became frightened and cried loudly. I did not know what to think of the thing myself, but thoughts of fog ran through my head and, as the horses did not appear to be frightened, I was not alarmed.'”

“‘My wife, however, requested me to stop the team, which I did after driving perhaps a hundred yards into the darkness.  There was nothing but blackness all around.  As we sat there a creepy sensation began to steal over me and I did not know what to do.

“‘I concluded to trust the team and gave them the word to go ahead. They went, picking their way slowly along the road, with which they are well acquainted. We traveled the entire distance along the lake, nearly three-quarters of a mile, in utter darkness and complete silence. As suddenly as we had entered the darkness we emerged from it. There is little more to add except that the air in there was perfectly dry and somewhat cooler than out in the sunshine.'”

“Fulton came to town the next morning by a different road and told the story here. He was laughed at, and the whole thing was taken as a joke, but he insisted that what he had told was absolutely true and finally a party was made up to visit the lake and see if it actually was dark there as represented. Among those who went there were Mayor Mitchum, Cashier Ellis, H.S. Bassett, W.S. Thompson, John Daniels and J.B. Eakin. They returned non-plussed and mystified, but very certain that rancher Fulton had told the truth. All agreed that the darkness was absolute.”

“People have been going up the lake all day. It is not much of a lake. It might more properly be called a swamp. The darkness seems to cover the lake and to extend to a distance of from eighty to 100 yards around it. Many theories have been advanced to account for the phenomenon. All the conditions of nature seem to be normal except that it is dark there when it is light all around.”

As a side note, “Swamp Lake” has yet to be found on any historical or modern map by this writer, although there are a number of unnamed bodies of water that qualify as candidates. In his Lakes of Washington, Ernest E. Wolcott describes 248 lakes in Lincoln County, most of them not named.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

Pennsylvania-born Dr. Albert Henry Fehr appears to have arrived in the then independent city of Georgetown, Washington around 1908, at age 36. He specialized in horses, and even had a patent in 1899 on a toe-weight for equines. In 1906 he was a one-day national news sensation when he blew the whistle on a horse he was ordered to drug in order to fix a race in Memphis.

Georgetown had only been incorporated since 1904 when newcomer Dr. Fehr tossed his hat in the ring during the 1909 election after the original Mayor decided to retire from the office. Fehr placed third out of three candidates, gaining only a dozen votes.

This week’s grabbed at random reel of microfilm is from The Seattle Daily Times, Jan. 14, 1910. It describes the consequences of an unusual campaign promise made by Dr. Fehr:

 SOMEBODY LIED, NOW BURDEN OF SONG BY FEHR

 Georgetown Mayoralty Aspirant, Who Promised Dinner to Supporters, Gets 12 Votes but 137 Want Feed

ALL SAY THEY GAVE HIM THEIR BALLOTS

 Only Thing to Do, He Says, Is to Entertain Whole Town at Barbecue — Leases Long String of Sausages.

 “One hundred and thirty seven legal voters of Georgetown solemnly declare they cast their ballots for Dr. A.H. Fehr, candidate for the mayoralty nomination on the Citizen’s ticket at the recent primaries. The election clerks and judges as solemnly declare that the official count of the ballots gave Dr. Fehr exactly twelve votes. The ever-growing list of men who say they voted for Dr. Fehr is reaching such proportions that there is now an issue of veracity between the election boards and the remainder of Georgetown.”

 “Little attention would be given to the wide difference in the figures were it not for the campaign promise of Dr. Fehr that he would invite each man who voted for him to a dinner after election. Many promised to vote for him, but only eleven kept the pledge, and Dr. Fehr voted for himself.”

 “When the last vote was counted Dr. Fehr slapped his pocketbook in satisfaction and next morning started to round up the faithful eleven.”

 Number Keeps Increasing

 “The first day of his canvass he found twenty-six who swore they voted for him. Dr. Fehr scratched his head in amazement, asked each member of the election boards if they were honest, consulted City Attorney Charles Ennis about throwing out the whole election on account of fraud, and then decided to feed the twenty-six. That night Fehr’s telephone bell rang repeatedly and each time he answered it a voter promised to attend the banquet in accordance with the preelection arrangement.”

“By sunrise Fehr had a list of thirty-five who voted for him, and the next night his intended guests numbered fifty-three. Then Fehr began to stave off the banquet. He refused to be called a ‘quitter’ but he acknowledged that he was sparring for time. It was believed that an indefinite postponement of the banquet would discourage the remaining voters in Georgetown. The voters not only knew their game but were hungry.”

 Will Feed Whole Town

 “‘There is only one way to give that banquet and not slight anyone,’ said Dr. Fehr today, ‘and that is to feed the whole town. I thought the matter over last night and have decided to barbecue a big, fat hog and invite everybody to come. I have rented the old livery stable of Roy Wilson, now being fitted up for a Georgetown theatre, and as soon as the alterations are finished, I will give that banquet. I have taken options on a half barrel of sauerkraut, a half barrel of dill pickles, 150 loaves of bread, leased a strong of sausages that will reach from Frye-Bruhn’s to the city hall, and, with a 300-pound hog I believe I shall be able to feed all who voted for me.'”

“‘There also will be two or three barrels of coffee and tea. Just as soon as Wilson gets his new theatre ready I shall keep my election promise and feed everybody who voted for me.'”

June Peterson Robinson in her book, The Georgetown Story (2nd ed., 2000) picks up where the above story left off:

“A number of Georgetown residents could be classed as ‘characters’ but none captured the attention of the media more than Dr. A.H. Fehr during the spring of 1910.”

“The little dandy with the small mustache and close-cropped hair had been an unsuccessful mayoral candidate the previous fall, polling only twelve votes in the primaries. His public offer to buy dinner for the eleven persons who voted for him turned up twenty-six voters the first day and rose to one hundred thirty-seven by January. He advised the town fathers that he could either ask for a recount or charge election fraud, but decided to keep his election promise and feed the whole town.”

“The dinner would take place as soon as alterations changing Roy Wilson’s livery stable to a theater had taken place. The date was finally fixed for March 3, Fehr’s birthday, and was to be held out of doors– weather permitting. Hi Gill, Seattle mayor John Miller and the Seattle City Council, the Georgetown mayor and Council and all King County Veterinarians were invited to be special guests. The menu would include one barrel sauerkraut, one half barrel dill pickles, three gallons mustard, one bear, one veal, one mutton, one shoat, two dozen Belgian hares and wieners containing the meat of twelve animals (to correspond with the votes cast in the election). Paper plates and napkins would be used. Dr. Fehr announced that he was having iron forks made, twelve would bear the words ‘I did,’ the remainder would say ‘I didn’t.’ Those who picked ‘I did’ out of the basket would be considered the only honest men– the ones who really voted for Fehr. Unfortunately, the story of the end of the celebration has been lost. No account has been found of the actual event and what really happened.”

Although Dr. Fehr can be found in the Seattle directories for 1908-1910, he vanishes from that source 1911-1914. Interestingly, he does not appear in the 1912 Year Book of the Washington State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners as someone licensed to practice veterinary medicine in Washington State. He died in Seattle at age 41 on Jan. 12, 1914, two days shy of the 4th anniversary of The Seattle Daily Times article above.

As for Georgetown, it came to an end as an incorporated entity on Apr. 4, 1910, when it was annexed by Seattle.

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library:

The Nov. 15, 1902 issue of The Spokane Press has a news account of a well known international con artist being arrested in Australia. The writer reminds the readers this criminal had made Spokane his home at one time:

  HE WAS A SOCIETY MAN IN SPOKANE

 Now Arrested in Australia—Wanted in Many Places for Similar Offences.

 “The following telegraphic dispatch from Chicago will be of interest to Spokane people, as the principal in the case was at one time the central figure in a marriage scandal case in this city.”

“That Arlington Buckingham Wadsworth created surprise, admiration and disgust by his actions here some years ago is still fresh in the memories of the people.”

“He came to the city as a wealthy business man and was soon recognized as such. He engaged in the real estate business, rode behind a span of fast horses hauling a fine English trap and was everywhere looked upon with envy.”

“Mr. Wadsworth was a great favorite with the ladies and his winning ways soon won for him admiration on every hand. In the ballroom, banquet halls and parlors he could be seen surrounded by a bevy of beautiful and wealthy ladies. He only associated, so far as the public knew, with the best people in the city.”

“In a due course of time it became known that he intended to wed a young lady of wealthy parents. The love match was not broken for some months until it leaked out that Mr. Wadsworth was an imposter of the rankest kind, but the information came too late, as the lovers were on their way to Chicago to be married. The young lady’s father made all possible haste to stop proceedings and did so at the last hour.”

“It soon afterwards became known that Arlington Buckingham Wadsworth was a man of many names and perhaps as many wives. He never afterwards appeared in Spokane social circles and the police state that he is wanted for bigamy in  several places.”

“In the following dispatch the name is changed to Arthur Bentley Worthington, but people who are familiar with the scandal created here state this is none other than Wadsworth.”

“CHICAGO, Nov. 15.–Arthur Bentley Worthington, leader of the Spiritualist movement known as the ‘Students of Truth,’ and one of the most famous all-around confidence men known in this country for the past 25 years, has been apprehended in Australia, on a charge of obtaining money under false pretenses from a woman whom he induced to act as sort of a financial ‘angel’ for his movement in the Antipodes.”

“Nothing has been heard of Worthington in this country for a good many years, though the secret service authorities have been constantly on the lookout for him. His criminal record is a long one, and at different times in his varied career he has figured in the police annals of over a dozen states in this country from Maine to California. He has posed as a lawyer, banker, politician, real estate operator, spiritualist writer, mining speculator and organizer, and bigamy has been his most favorite role.”

“He was born in New York state, in 1847, his real name being Samuel Oakley Crawford. He enlisted in the Union army, in 1864, reappearing after the war was over as a temperance lecturer, studied law for a while, but, in 1867, he professed religion and preached as a Methodist minister in New Jersey. The next year he married, for the first time; his wife was one Josephine Ericson Moore. He deserted her and an infant daughter a year later. Soon after he turned up in Albany and buncoed a guileless farmer out of his hard-earned savings and was arrested and sentenced to the penitentiary for three years in 1870.”

“Four years later he married again in this city the daughter of a Boston clairvoyant. He deserted his second wife in a few weeks and before the year was over he married his third wife, the daughter of an Ohio judge, whose name he forged to a note for $3000.”

“He fled to Kansas City, where he lived for a short time under the name of Eugene Bonner, but got in trouble there in 1876 and went to Peoria, Ill. By this time the police in various parts of the country began to offer rewards for his arrest. Here wife No. 2 appeared, but he avoided her and fled to San Francisco. His marriage here to a wealthy widow, of whom he had borrowed $2000, was frustrated before the ceremony by a telegram exposing some of his operations in a matrimonial way.”

“By some hook or crook he managed to evade the officials of ‘Frisco and next turned up at Salt Lake City, where he became a Mormon, and is said to have preached in the temple. He got away from there with great expedition after borrowing $5000 from the all too trusting proselytes of Brigham Young, and Texas sheltered him next for a brief time.” “In 1878 he moved to Detroit, where he found a troupe of actors, and married a Miss Eliza Huntoon, under the name of Bannerton. Leaving the stage, he settled down in New Lisbon, Wis., where he practiced law, but soon tired of honest work. He borrowed several hundred dollars, forged a number of bonds and checks. He was caught and indicted, but his partner went his bail and the apostle took to traveling again, leaving wife No. 4 sadder and wiser.”

“The records show that he traveled through many states in 1882 and 1883 as an English tourist, cashing many worthless papers. Boston was his next home, where he again practice law, and lived in great style. He became acquainted there with a Mrs. John P. Sargent, a woman with a leaning toward spiritualism, and who had some money. He became an ardent spiritualist, and induced the woman to leave her husband and family and fly with him. The couple lived in Charleston, W.V., till Worthington had spent the woman’s money, and in 1886 the man disappeared altogether, though he had in the meantime swindled a Mr. Dana of Charlestown out of about $3000.”

“The advices received telling of his arrest in Melbourne last week show that he was up to his old tricks there and has at last fallen into the toils. After justice has been satisfied there he will be brought to this country to make amend for some of his many depredations.”

Wadsworth shows up in the 1887 Directory of the City of Spokane Falls as a resident of the Hyde Block. This three story building at 611 W. Riverside was ironically built by and named after Spokane’s first Chief of Police. It was destroyed in the 1889 Spokane fire.  A second and larger Hyde Block was constructed on the same spot.

He also appears to be a defendant in two cases cited in Frontier Justice having to do with nonpayment on loans 1887-1888, so it would seem the system was starting to close in on him before he fled Washington Territory.

Posing as General A.B. Ward, he worked with Benjamin Harrison in the 1888 presidential campaign. As Arthur Bently Worthington he moved to New Zealand and became a leader of religion he invented called, humorously enough, Students of Truth.

After spending seven years in an Australian prison, he returned to the United States and was back to his con games. Arrested again in January 1917, he spent the final year of his life in a New York State jail. He died December 14, 1917, supposedly while talking through the cell bars to his latest wife, who was either number 10 or 12, depending on the source.