Arrest Klingenberg was able to testify to seeing Gohl alone with a sailor, Charles Hatberg/Hatteberg, whose body had recently been found in the harbor at Indian Creek February 2, 1910, soon after his disappearance on December 21, 1909. Though suspected of being responsible for the large number of sailors who would disembark in Aberdeen and disappear, nothing was done to stop him until an accomplice, John Klingenberg, was brought back to Aberdeen after trying to jump ship in to escape prosecution, or possibly to escape Gohl. Other reports state that Gohl would use a small to murder his victims and dump the bodies directly in the harbor. According to some reports, there was a chute which descended from a in the building directly into the river. Then after relieving them of their money and valuables, he would dispose of them in the, which ran behind the building and into. Gohl would kill most of his victims in the union building by shooting them. If the sailor was just passing through, and would not be missed by anyone in the area, and had more than a trivial amount of cash or valuables on hand, Gohl would choose him as his next victim. Then he would turn the conversation to the topic of money and valuables. Typically, Gohl would ask if the sailors had any family or friends in the area. There they could collect their mail and, if they wished, set some money aside in savings. Sailors arriving in the port of Aberdeen would usually visit the Sailor's Union building soon after disembarking. The property where serial killer Jeremiah Lexer murdered his entire family draws.
Jack the ripper was the first serial killer who made the mediaheadlines and thus the first serial killer with workdwide coverage.Another serial killer did something uncomon. The Union building proved to be a location that was ideal for his crimes, both in providing victims, and in concealing the evidence of their murders. As a union official, Gohl used his reputation and intimidating size to discourage strikes and 'recruit' new union members. In 1905 during the great waterfront strike Gohl was charged with 'assembling men under arms' and is also alleged to have forcibly abducted non-union crewmen from the schooner Fearless for which he was fined $1,250 in the Superior Court. Already an accomplished criminal, Gohl was suspected of being responsible for many of the large numbers of deceased that were found washed up on shore during his tenure as a bartender, as well as a number of other crimes. Before this he had been employed as a bartender after returning broke from the. Occupation and murders Gohl was employed as a union official at the.