THE GEORGE WEYERHAEUSER KIDNAPPING

It was back in 1935 when little 9-year-old George Weyerhaeuser – whose great-grandfather founded the company – was snatched by kidnappers on his way home from school in Tacoma one May afternoon.

George's great-grandfather is Frederick Weyerhaeuser. He started the Weyerhaeuser forest products dynasty in 1900, and Bryan Johnston says the elder Weyerhaeuser is still considered the 12th richest man in American history, as in ever. For comparison, says Johnston, another local guy – Bill Gates – is on the same list at number 11.

Thus, little George Weyerhaeuser was a natural target for a kidnap and ransom scheme in the middle of the Great Depression.

Around 6:30 p.m., a special delivery letter – mailed anonymously and containing a ransom note – arrived at the Weyerhaeuser home. In an old newsreel, the narrator describes what happened next.

This ransom letter was turned over to the FBI. Nine-year old George Weyerhaeuser, kidnapped, the narrator says, in classic melodramatic newsreel fashion. They made him sign the back of the envelope as identification to his parents. The G-Men made a searching study of this elaborate kidnap message. It gave a list of the size of the bills to be paid in the ransom money: $200,000.

The $200,000 demand is pretty audacious, says Bryan Johnston, as it's four times what the Lindbergh kidnapper had demanded just two years earlier. Adjusted for inflation, the Weyerhaeuser ransom would be close to $4 million in 2021.

Randomly, $200,000 is also the same dollar amount as what infamous Northwest hijacker D.B. Cooper would demand – and be given – in exchange for his hostages more than 30 years later.

The FBI has a nationwide system of hunting down kidnap cash, says the newsreel narrator. The G-Men made up a list of their own [of serial numbers of ransom bills]. The Washington press ground out hundreds of thousands of [lists]. They circularized the nation – banks, stores, and filling stations, any place where money might be spent.

A big break came just one week after George Weyerhaeuser had been released.

The trail led to Salt Lake City, where in this 5-and-10 [variety store], one of the bills on the list was changed to buy this cigarette case, the narrator continues. And swiftly an airplane is taking Harmon Waley and his wife to Tacoma [where each pleads guilty]. He gets 45 years; she gets 20 years.

There were a total three kidnappers – and all eventually were tracked down through ransom money serial numbers listed on the printed document and spotted by retail clerks (which is exactly how the FBI decades later had hoped to catch D.B. Cooper).

To read the complete article, see:
Dramatic 1935 Weyerhaeuser kidnapping comes to life in new book (https://mynorthwest.com/3133991/dramatic-1935-weyerhaeuser-kidnapping/)

To read the Wikipedia entry, see:
George Weyerhaeuser kidnapping (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Weyerhaeuser_kidnapping)

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