The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1908-06-11
Michigan Man Acts Is D..
iedive and Follows
False Que.
Millionaire Lumbernaa b
Mistaken for 4 Clever
SwadIeY. o

iiBttie Greek, NM, Is a frost. No
SAYS 80 himself now, after chasing
a supposed bnnko man half vsV
across the coutineot and then suv
dealy discovering that be had ma1s
the horrible. uneKplalnabie mista@
OF chasing toe wrong man.
Toe wrong man happened 70 -
" p Bosing. a millionaire lumber
man. OF the firm OF Boeing n Grim
mons. well known In Seattle. who
owns thousands OF acres OF the Z
most valuable timber lands In thu
state. Mr. Boeing thought II .
good joke So did his friends 10
whom he reconnted the story Cro0
kept the bulk Of his thoughts TO
himself, but those which found audi
be expression would not have been
considered very edifylrs In a Sun
dag school class.
In the very beginning IL seems
that Croft met a man who repre-
scented himself as coming from tho
great and only state OF Washing
ton Croft had money; the stranger
vas evidently shy on the coin. but
long ON the talk. He induced Croft
10 separate himself from $500 OF
good coin Of the realm.
useS Beings Name.
Croft had visions Of cool mil
lion or more which was to sproute
out on the limbs OF the trees that
he purchased from this enterpris-
Ing ciusen of the Evergreen state.
II misht have been a coincidence
that the straHsrer sve his name as
Boeiss and that he owned about
half Of the stassisS timber In this
state.
Il was afterwards that Croft
thought OF io-s Of things that he
might have teosgst Of at the be-
ginsiTG. BIT anyway, Croft came
throt@b with the aforementioned
dollars. twenty-five hundred Of
them. ass Boei.s Immediately rd
the sisappearaaes act His psA
away made the alleged high-clsss
trunk mystery look like a piayse
on a board fesce.
Croft became real indignant wksA
he found his money gone. aud the
stranger likewise. His first thossrAf
was Of the police. In these hard
times he figured he would mal@
money by catching the mas him
self. No soeper said thar sose.
Strikes the Trail.
After a few short jaunts arous&
his immediate neighborhood, cruSt
went to Minneapolis. There he
struck the scent. A man naGed
Boeing had taken the train west.
He answered the description 20
Croft grabbed enc OF Jim Hills
dividend earners coming in the d.
rection OF the Pacific ocean.
At Seattle Croft learned that his
quarry had left the train ard taken
a room In y downtown hotel. When
the selfmade detective reached the
hotel Boeing had disappeared again.
The second day Croft finally
sighted his man. At least he thought
Il was his man. He was afraid
OF making a mistake and followed
his supposed fugitive through the
streets and into the Union depot.
The stranger bought a ticket for
Aberdeen and passed out through
the gates. Croft ran TO get a ticket
and missed the train by about
fifty feet.
Among the passengers on the
next train for Aberdeen was a man
named Croft, who hailed from Bat
tie Creek, Mich. Croft was very,
very mad by this time When the
train reached Aberdeen In the
evening Croft started out on stiIl
hunt and finally located his man In
a BARRIERS chair getting a shave.
Millionaire Is Nabbed.
As he waited a policeman came
up and Croft told him the particu-
lars. When the stranger emerged,
freshly shayen and smiling, he
found himself In the clutches OF the
officer.
When he was Informed of the
crime he was charged with having
he smilingly assured
them that there was a mistake. II
required about ten minutes 10 con.
vince both Croft and the policeman
that they held In custody none other
than the millionaire lumber dealer.
As already told, this Boeing took
II as huge Joke. Croft couldn't
see anything funny about il at all.
After It had dawned upon him that
he had made the long trip and had
spent the many extra dollars on
fool chase, he figuratively kicked
n times and took the train
back home"
Croft says he will leave the de-
teetiVe business TO the real detec.
tives hereafter. and so TO farming
for n living. He does not believe
that his think.tank is equal TO the
task of ferreting out criminals.