The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-10-12
Last 4 -sress in Strange Story
Dies a Maniac.
ZECHOWS' WiIl-O'-THE-Wt
Gresd. wealth, Marder and Insanity
Running Back 10 Pioneer Days
Involved In Roma nee which
Comes tn a Close With the Death
stefIncoom-TaI~ of Two Murders.

dlspatch received tFoYa the State IN
Zane asylum At sfeiiacoom yesterday an
nosIncisg the death % Diaa Zet if3". oiie
of Is inmates, incafceratea there s-ncs
June u. Iss- recalls - strange story %
greed wealth, murder aaa Insanity ruiz
mag back % the pioneer days Of Seattle.
In this romance Olga ARA neg h'1S n4iad
Heinrich Zesnos tao weak minded ps%pi@'
were the iast prominent actors ans VIZ
tins OF misplaced confidence. resulting u
TIE insanity OK tne .ouan = ist2 aFIi the
nndlne Of the body ~ the murdered nus
band n the Fraser river ln 1891 The 1eAlh
of the woman uo* esldS a story al al
times shsouded IN mystery and fep'sie
with tragic Incidents.
Prior 10 lss7 Heinrich Zechow ard his
wife Olga were IN San Francisco quietly
cunning "A hotel and lodging house. making
q fair living and being generally content
ed In 1857 their evi; genius appeared ia
the shape % man named Allen, claim
ing 20 hail from Seattle "ho hypnottzed
them with Il story go the effect That a
fabu4ously large fortune awaited them IN
the Puget sound coutiry. tie told then
that Jacob Zechow. uncle Or HeinFlcii,
had been murdered some years before a
the instigation ~ "A Seattle man. and that
this mar had taken possession OF All o.
Jacob ZschoW's properly and wss calm
ing II az his own not knosln. that any
heirs existed Alien advised them 70 sell
Seattle and make = ngat for jhcir rights.
which would enable them 10 roll IN wcatih
and ali that wealth rneant. TINS rracucat-
" turned the head % the two weak
minded people. Il; that time about s. and
30 years old respectively
Chasing the Phantom.
They sold out everything they had and
came to Seattle. armed with a number
OF letters OF recommendation from prom
inent people ir san Francisco as 10 their
a ~
Eiuard r. Edsen. an attorney OF TINS
city who on their representation prepared
powers Of attorney from the father OF
Heinrich, who was brother Of the muir
dered Jacob; also from Henf!cns two
brothers, empowering Heinrich 10 act Tor
them.
Col Edsen entered assI1uously into the
merits OF the case and found mat tho GO
tate of Jacob ZedIow had. years before
that. been administered upon IN kl's1p
county and oeen closed by Daniel j. Sack
man, one OF the administrations OF the es'-
tate.
Prosecuting his investigation further. Col.
Edsen found that thS Jacob Zechow, who
had formerly been prominent logger here
and had been known by the mann Of" Dutch
Jake" and Also as Jacob Sligo. the latter
being the nearest the natives and early set
Tiers could gel 10 ZeChow. Further, n" d!s-
covered that Dutch Jake, AZ Jacob Sligo.
had contracted a blanket marriage with
ar Indian woman. the issue Of which was
a son. who Isl SIZE alive AMI wh0 goes ny
ffip OF JACOB SiED. sttSltN litlS. one
potent fact whid proved The existence Of
a direct heir 10 old JACOBS property, Cob
Edsen further asCertaln.d that the estate
OF OH man Jacob. after everything had
been administered upon. did not exceed IN
value tbe sum OF s2.@o. There seemed 70
have been no question however. that
Dutdl Jake was murdered.
with all these facts well proven and tS-
tahl!shaf Col fdsen was 10th To inform
h,s clients. Heinrich and Olga. that they
had not .io}ssr's worth OF Interest wfat-
ever I'm any estate that their uncle mght
tave left. Tor the simple reason that the
son. Jacob S.so. by The Indian woman. was
the direct heir.
The minds Of The two people however.
they were rich ant that their riches were
being withheld from them. that they TO-
fused 70 accept Col Edsaen's report a. iinal-
Col Eisen y thdrew from the case AMI the
Xcchows continuing their search for i
phantom. employed other attorneys. who.
on investigating the facts soon found that
the ZechowS were chasing 4 w.Il-o'-the-
wiSp and gave it up. SeVeTai attorneys
tried their hands az Il with no better "a
suits and each failure instead OF bring
Ing th,, XcChtfNs to the sensea only
served T. !nliame their lninfls until the sub
itcr e their prospective millions oera0ae I
mania with them absorbing every thought
and controlling every action az their daily
ifVss They refused L. admit thai they
were not The Direct heirs OF their uncIe's
property and threatened and attempted in
several ways. % prosecute several men en-
the rishtful oW-nerss - nearly onc-half %
Seattle, and wou.a not take 90 for an an
ever.
From Mania to n Disease.
From a mania tha belief became a dis
with the Iochows They hal uveI
alternately In South and West Seattle.
and wherever thcy went and found e We
Tim willing 20 listen 70 their ta,e - wae
they poured 0Alt ne story - their alleged
wrongs. multiplying Their prospect lse
wealth as years rolled ON. and ferstStynf-
~ claiming thar the man who nd caused
their urcie 20 he murdered vas Stf} work
tng against them and keeping thcm cut af
Their right fui possessions
Their iiiosynefasies finally secured f,r
them the sobT - cf 'ts. mil erafrrs 90
which they aecepS in good faith. frn.y
believing 4 rAcm1eiy.s Theif a-t!an4
showed that thejr minds were ho~ar, in <
unbalanced az the subject. when that~
money gave out Le<hcw made a living
NurEEkuHaaEEnuEEHHnnaEnnrs