Let’s remember when George Weyerhaeuser’s kidnappers were caught, on this day in 1935 (June 8)
This is one of the biggest true crime cases to hit the Pacific Northwest in pretty much forever.
On May 24, 1935, George Weyerhaeuser, nine years old, was released from school for lunch earlier than usual. As usual he walked to the nearby Annie Wright Seminary to meet his sister Ann, where the family’s chauffeur generally met the children to drive them home for lunch. Arriving at the Seminary 10 or 15 minutes early, George apparently decided to walk home rather than wait; he was kidnapped somewhere en route.
On realizing George was missing, the family notified police. That evening a special-delivery letter arrived at the Weyerhaeuser home, demanding $200,000 in unmarked twenty-, ten-, and five-dollar bills in exchange for George, whose signature was on the back of the envelope. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s was notified. Adhering to the kidnappers’ instructions, a personal advertisement signed “Percy Minnie” was placed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer[when?] to indicate that the Weyerhaeusers would comply with the kidnappers’ demands. Similar advertisements were placed on May 27 and 29.
A letter received May 29, 1935 instructed George’s father to register at the Ambassador Hotel in Seattle, Washington and await further contact. Also enclosed was a note from George stating that he was safe. At ten that night a taxicab driver delivered another letter to Weyerhaeuser at the hotel. This letter directed Weyerhaeuser to drive to a designated point, where he found sticks driven into the ground with a white cloth attached, and a message directing him to another signal cloth further down the road. However, on reaching this second location he found no message. After waiting two hours he returned to the hotel. On the morning of May 30 an anonymous caller remonstrated Weyerhaeuser for not following instructions; Weyerhaeuser insisted that he had wanted to cooperate but that he could not find the last note.
At 9:45 that night a man with a European accent telephoned, telling Weyerhaeuser to go to an address where he would find a note in a tin can. Thereafter, he proceeded from one point to another, following directions he found at each place. On a dirt road off a highway he found a note telling him to wait five minutes with the dome light of his car burning, then to go to another white sign on the same road. There he found a note telling him to leave his car and walk back toward Seattle; if the money was in order, George would be released within 30 hours. Weyerhaeuser had walked about 100 yards when he heard a noise from the bushes. A man ran out, got in the car and drove away with the ransom money.
Young George Weyerhaeuser was released at a shack near Issaquah, Washington, on the morning of June 1, 1935.
All was well until a week later. HistoryLink has the details:
On June 8, 1935, two of George H. Weyerhaeuser’s kidnappers are captured in Salt Lake City while attempting to pass marked ransom money. In one of the nation’s most sensational crimes, on May 24, 1935, George Weyerhaeuser, the 9-year-old son of timber baron John Philip Weyerhaeuser Jr., was kidnapped. The boy’s family paid a ransom for his release on June 1, 1935. A week later, upon their capture, Harmon Metz Waley, age 23, and his wife Margaret Eldora Thulin, age 19, will confess to the crime and identify ex-convict William Dainard, age 33, as the “brains” behind the kidnapping. Harmon Waley will plead guilty to the charges and will be sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Margaret Waley will go to trial, be found guilty, and receive a 20-year sentence at a federal detention farm.
Amazing.
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