Streetcar Chaos and the Case of the Two Dynamite Bombs
An evening confrontation on a Tacoma streetcar escalated into a brawl involving two armed men and a terrifying discovery of hidden explosives.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Tacoma, Nov. 11 — At 10 o'clock this afternoon, two strangers, giving their names as Charles Lebanatech and Gustave Hani, were arrested on the front platform of the Randolph street car. With a companion, they were talking in a very loud and threatening manner, stating they were going to do something, and then the friends of their friends—and the friends of the car—began to be frightened, and many of them got out before the car crossed the bridge. At the corner of Pacific Avenue, an officer was signaled by the conductor and jumping on the car, he undertook to arrest the men. Lebanatech and Hani resisted. An exciting struggle followed, in which many citizens joined. The two men were at length overpowered and taken to the Champlain Street station. Their companion escaped. About 8 o'clock, two bombs, apparently to be heavily charged with dynamite, were found in an omnibus which runs from the Union Depot to Lincoln Park. The bombs were made of iron pipe, each ten inches long. They were taken to the Champlain Street station.
“An exciting struggle followed, in which many citizens joined. The two men were at length overpowered and taken to the Champlain Street station.”
Public transit has long been a flashpoint for social tension in Washington. While the 1887 incident in Tacoma involved dynamite-toting agitators, it mirrors modern-day concerns regarding safety and conduct on the regional light rail and bus systems, reminding us that the transit vehicle remains a central stage for the city's unresolved frictions.
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