The Boy Who Squirted Ammonia: A Spokane Youth’s Descent into Infamy
Officer Ike keeps a watchful eye on Tobias, the 'bad boy' of the Cineograph theater, after he becomes a fugitive from home and targets Japanese children with chemical pranks.
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.
Young Tobias Again Under Surveillance.
Officer Ike kept his eyes on the door of the Cineograph theater last night, watching for the Tobias boy, recently implicated in the robbery of a stationery store and last night a fugitive from the home of his parents.
The father of the lad offered a reward to the policeman who would bring the boy home by 9 o'clock, stating that he had run away.
The lad is undoubtedly incorrigible. One night last week, to add to the category of mischief he had been into, with a companion or two he sat in the front row of the Cineograph hall and squirted aqua ammonia into the eyes of the little Japanese boys who are a star attraction at the theater.
This 1902 account captures the era's fascination with juvenile delinquency and the specific xenophobia directed at Asian immigrants in the Pacific Northwest. While modern readers might focus on the harassment of the Japanese children, the text also reflects a broader societal anxiety about 'incorrigible' youth who operated outside traditional family structures—a theme that resonates with contemporary debates on juvenile justice and community safety.
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