Jim Kershner’s This day in history

From our archives,

75 years ago

The kidnapping of George Weyerhaeuser continued to dominate the local news. The timber heir had been snatched in Tacoma in late May and released unharmed. The 9-year-old boy returned to Spokane in presence of federal agents to identify the home in the 1500 block of West 11th Avenue where he was held for the better part of eight days.

Meanwhile, portions of the $200,000 ransom paid for the boy had been recovered. More than $90,000 of it had been buried in Immigration Pass, just south of Salt Lake City. Another $15,000 or so had been abandoned in a car by suspect William Mahan, who was still at large. J. Edgar Hoover’s “G men” believed suspects Harmon Waley and his wife, by then in custody in Salt Lake, had burned $4,000 when “things got too hot” and spent another $300.

The balance, the feds believed, was with Mahan.

The Pierce County prosecuting attorney pledged to seek the death penalty in the case.

Dam building: Contractors Mason-Walsh-Atkinson-Kier placed the world’s largest order for concrete-mixing equipment, for use on construction of Grand Coulee Dam. Already, more than 10 million cubic yards of material had been excavated from the dam site.