Landmarks: Cottage held kidnapped Weyerhaeuser boy
Back in the 1920s and 1930s the kidnapping of children from famous and wealthy families had become a serious issue, with most not ending well. One of the most notorious was the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh. But in the case with the Spokane connection, the child – George Weyerhaeuser – was returned safely to his family.
George was the 9-year-old grandson of timber baron Frederick Weyerhaeuser, who in 1900 founded the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. in Longview, Washington. That company, already very successful at the time, today owns or manages 20 million acres of timberland in the U.S. and Canada and manufactures building materials and pulp products that are distributed worldwide.
On May 25, 1935, in Tacoma, young George, whose school let out earlier than his sister’s, was walking to her school where the family chauffeur was to pick them up. The boy decided not to wait and continued home by himself. It was then that he was abducted by a group, including convict Harmon Waley and his wife, Margaret.
At first George was taken to an area in the woods near the Washington-Idaho border. He later moved to the house while arrangements were being made for his ransom. The Waleys had been renting the two-bedroom, one-bath cottage in Spokane for $28 a month.
From all accounts, George was treated relatively well, all things considered, by Harmon Waley while being held hostage. The boy was kept for three days in a closet in the house on West 11th Avenue in the front bedroom, which is located behind the entryway to the house. But Waley would let him out of the closet so he could walk around inside the house and would also let him read newspaper accounts of the kidnapping, which was front-page news across the nation – and was an especially alarming event in light of the grim outcome of the Lindbergh kidnapping.
Waley also gave the boy a mattress to sleep on inside the closet while Waley slept just outside the closet door. Apparently Waley also brought him hot dogs and soft drinks and, according to one account, tried to entertain him by playing the ukulele.
After the $200,000 was paid by the Weyerhaeuser family, on June 1, George was driven to a rural area outside Seattle and given a blanket and $1. He walked several miles to a farm house where he identified himself, and he was returned to his parents. The kidnappers were caught, convicted and sentenced, and $157,000 of the money was recovered.
After serving his sentence for the kidnapping, Harmon Waley was released from Alcatraz Prison in 1963, after which George Weyerhaeuser, who had become CEO at Weyerhaeuser Lumber Co., gave Waley a job with the company.
Brian and Jean Hoerner, current owners of the home, which was built in 1905, said that when they purchased it in the early 1990s, they knew nothing of its history. Only in 2009, when they spoke with a woman who owned the house in the 1970s, did they learn about the drama that had taken place there.
The house itself is much changed from the days when George Weyerhaeuser was held in the bedroom closet. Back then a covered porch extended across the entire front of the house and there was also a back porch; the upper floor was unfinished. Jean Hoerner said that in the 1950s the basement was dug out and a portion of the front porch enclosed so the living room could be extended. She is uncertain when the back porch was incorporated into the house, but that has allowed for expansion of the kitchen and back bedroom.
She and her husband have finished the upstairs, adding two bedrooms, a bathroom and an office – making the little cottage home into one that is more comfortable for them and their five children.
There is an interesting postscript to the entire story. Looking today at the closet where young George was held, there are hangars and clothes and shoes and all the things you’d expect to see in a closet. But there on the top shelf are two storage boxes with the name of the box manufacturer clearly visible – Weyerhaeuser.