U.S.A. KIDNAPPERS

Grey River Argus, 27 May 1935, Page 5

U.S.A. KIDNAPPERS

CATCH RICH BOY Family Worth Billion Dollars (Aus. and N.Z. Cable Assn.) (Received Alav 26. 6-10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, May 25. A message from Tacoma. Washington. states that' George Weyerhaeuser, the nine-year-old scion of a wealthy lumber family, was kidnapped yesterday, and is being hold for ransom. The ran-om asked is vaiiously reported ns between fifty thousand and two hundred thousand dollars. The family are maintaining strict secrecy as o any negotiations which they might enter, but, meanwhile, the City mid Slate poli< e. under the direction of Federal agents, ai'e conducting a widespread search. The lad left school at noon for lunch a! home. Nobody has seen him since. To-day a large while do h hung from a window of Hie Weyerhaeuser mansion, which could be seen for miles, as Ihe house stands on an elevation overlooking Puget Sound. It is assumed that this was a signal to the kidnappers, indicating presumably, that the family are ready ‘o pay the ransom.. It is reported that a ransom note, written in a woman’s hand, threatened Ihe death of the child if the police were noli tied. The "Weyerhaeuser family are immensely wealthy. The kidnapped child’s great grandfather, Fredlorick Weyerhaeuser. was the son of a Gorman immigrant He started in the lumber industry as a dollar-a-day sawmill worker 1 i n Minnesota in 1852. Gradually he accumulated timber lands from Ohio to the Pacific Coast, and even into Alaska. The son of Fred-

erick. John Philip ‘Weyerhaeuser, died a for'night ago. leaving the control of most of the fortune to John Philip Weyerhaeuser junior, the father of of the boy who has been kidnapped.

It i s said that the family control ninety-four corporations in the lumber milling and allied industries, wi'h a value of almost a billion dollars. The family owns two million acres of timber and vast a amount of other property.