In the late hours of a September evening in 1903, Seattle Police Officer Albert C. Schaneman, a 36-year-old male, was walking his beat in the area now known as Occidental Park. He was investigating the armed robbery of the Villard House Saloon that had occurred earlier in the evening by three men. Believing he had seen the suspects earlier, Officer Schaneman was seen walking with a determined pace after leaving a saloon on Washington Street.
As he walked, a witness saw him struggle with
a man before two gunshots rang out, followed by a brief pause and then a third. With the final shot, Officer Schaneman fell to the sidewalk, having been shot from behind. The fatal bullet, a. 38 caliber, entered just behind his left ear, and he died at the scene on Occidental Avenue. The two suspects were seen fleeing south.
Responding to the sound of gunfire, two other officers, G.T. Philbrick and John W. Huff, spotted two men running and gave chase. When they ordered the men to stop, one of them turned and fired at the officers, who returned fire. One of the suspects, William Thomas, was struck and fell, while the other managed to escape. Thomas, who had been released from a Montana penitentiary earlier that year after serving time for robbery, was armed with a. 44 caliber firearm.
At the police station, an employee from the Villard House identified Thomas as one of the robbers. Thomas claimed a friend, whom he refused to name, was the one who shot Officer Schaneman. Thomas was taken to Providence Hospital for his gunshot wound and was expected to recover, but he later died from an infection on September 29, 1903. Investigators determined that Thomas was part of a gang responsible for a string of robberies in the region. Another member of the gang, Frank Allison, was later arrested and identified as one of the Villard House robbers. While no one was ever tried for Officer Schaneman's murder, the police were confident that Allison was the shooter. Allison was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison for the robbery.
