The Bunko Men and the Judge
A Seattle judge is under fire for releasing two known con-men on cash bail—funded, ironically, by the very money they stole from their victims.
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.
It seems a little strange that two bunko men who robbed a green countryman of more than $100, terrorized a steamer’s passengers and resisted arrest, should have been released on cash bail in the sum of $150, especially as the greater portion of the cash which they deposited as bail was the booty which they had secured by the commission of the crime for which they were arrested. It does not do to deal with bunko men and other light-fingered people with such leniency. If a thief can count on depositing his stealings as bail whenever he is arrested, the courts will have little terror for him. At least one of the men in the case in point has a reputation throughout the entire West as a confidence man, bunko sharp and swindler. That such a man, when charged with an offense of real gravity, should be permitted to deposit his stealings as cash bail and return to his usual haunts to seek more victims, or perhaps, to bribe or terrify his former victim into not appearing against him, is nothing better than a jugglery with justice. Police Judge Rivers should be more careful.
“That such a man... should be permitted to deposit his stealings as cash bail and return to his usual haunts to seek more victims... is nothing better than a jugglery with justice.”
Concerns regarding the revolving door of the justice system and the inability of courts to hold predatory offenders accountable mirror ongoing contemporary debates about Seattle’s public safety, bail reform, and the efficacy of judicial oversight.
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