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.

the narrator says, in classic melodramatic newsreel fashion.

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.

says the newsreel narrator.

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

the narrator continues.

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)