Alright, I am so excited to share
this next story with you about a
new book that highlights a very
interesting yet relatively unknown
part of Pacific Northwest history.
It all has to do with a very wealthy family.
The warehouse, our family,
you may know them as the paper people,
but they are the founders of a
massive timber company headquartered
right here in Seattle.
We recently sat down with Brian Johnston,
the author of Deep in the Woods.
It tells the story of a 9 year old
George Weyerhaeuser who was kidnapped.
Back in the 1930s.
So excited to talk to you about your book.
This is a fascinating tale.
It's set in the Pacific Northwest,
so tell us in a nutshell,
what is deep in the woods about?
Well, this is the story about the 1935
kidnapping of nine year old George
Weyerhaeuser of the Weyerhaeuser
family in the Pacific Northwest.
He was walking home from school,
got snatched off the street by a
couple of kidnappers and he was kept.
Locked chained in a hole in
the ground out in Issaquah,
he was kept chained to a tree,
was locked in trunk,
kept in a closet for five days.
The kidnappers wanted $200,000 in small,
unmarked bills.
The whole thing played out like
a Humphrey Bogart movie was the
biggest manhunt in Northwest history.
It was this an amazing story.
There were so many layers of this story.
It is one of the most fascinating stories
that I've ever stumbled across in my life.
I can't imagine how much fun you must
have had researching all of this,
going through FBI files, and I mean,
it really seems like some groundbreaking
police work was done on this case,
but what surprised you most
about learning this story?
Working with so many things, number one
how they have so little technology.
Fingerprinting was still in its infancy at
this time and so most of the tracking down
bad guys was done through shoe leather,
detective work and a lot of it.
But the thing that astonished me most
about this story was how it ended.
I'm always hesitant to the giveaway
how things ended, you know, but.
25 years after the kidnapping,
one of the kidnappers was
released from prison from
Alcatraz and he contacted George.
This is called them up and said,
hey George, this is Harmon Whaley.
One of her kidnappers.
I just got out of prison.
I could sure use a job in George
Weyerhaeuser hired his kidnapper.
I have the chills. I you know,
in the FBI report it says hey,
just became the CEO of Weyerhaeuser later.
Didn't say oh, and he's a magnanimous person.
Wow, that's amazing.
This story is one I've never heard of before.
I mean, we've heard of Patty Hearst
in these these big profile stories.
How come this one hasn't been told?
A couple of reasons.
Number one it took place in Seattle,
so you were basically the
forgotten corner of the country,
especially by the 1935,
and secondly the Weyerhaeuser's are very.
Private family they were
a very private family.
Back then they were very private family.
Now when this crime took
place it was a huge story.
I mean it was on the front page
of every newspaper in America.
It was only two and a half years
after the Lindbergh kidnapping.
So it was a big deal.
Really big deal at the time,
but it's been 85 years.
The fact that nobody written
a book about this before.
I had astonishment absolutely astonishment
it is astonishing,
and we're so glad you did.
'cause I cannot wait.
To download my book now,
I understand you also spoke with
George while writing this book
I did took me awhile to track him down.
I I did and he was he was so charming.
He was 94 years old when I talked with
him and that was two years ago and
he was just a nice guy and he loved
seeing pictures of himself when he
was nine years old on the cover of the
newspapers and stuff like that it was
just he was just a really charming guy.
His you know obviously 94.
His memory wasn't 100% but he's
still remembered an awful lot
and awful lot about the story.
And my favorite quote from
when I talked with him.
As he asked Mr Brian how long is it
gonna take you to write this book?
And I said wow for everything,
probably about two years and you
said Brian I'm 94, right fast?
And so has he read it, he has.
And what did he think?
But from what I hear
from his daughter, he's been enjoying it.
They said, well, Brian,
you got a few things wrong in there.
And I'm like wow, Shocker,
but but he seemed to think that it was
OK and that's high praise in my book.
Absolutely it is so hard to tell other
people's stories. I understand that.
Alright, how great is that story?
Hope you enjoy reading it.