The Thief Who Tried to Sell Stolen Goods Back to the Chief
A brazen Tacoma burglar was caught red-handed when he attempted to sell his illicit haul directly to the city’s Chief of Police.
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.
Yesterday, Chief of Police Fallis was accosted by one of the fleeting inhabitants of 'Tin Town' who carried a suspicious bag of silver. The man attempted to show Chief Fallis that the goods were solid and worth the asking price. It didn't go, however, and the Chief promptly hauled the fellow off to justice.
“The man attempted to show Chief Fallis that the goods were solid and worth the asking price. It didn't go, however, and the Chief promptly hauled the fellow off to justice.”
Long before Tacoma's modern urban development, the city struggled with a notorious shantytown known as 'Tin Town,' populated by transients and laborers. This incident of a thief walking his stolen goods right into the hands of the law highlights the grit and absurdity of frontier-era policing in a rapidly growing Pacific Northwest hub.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.