Armed Robbery on the Arlington Heights Line
Masked men hold up a streetcar three miles outside Spokane, shooting a passenger who attempted to flee.
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.
Two masked men held up a streetcar on the Arlington Heights electric line shortly before midnight tonight and shot the only passenger aboard the car through the hand while he was trying to escape. The car was about three miles from the center of the city when it was boarded by two masked men, one of whom presented his pistol at the head of the motorman and told him to stop the car. The only passenger was Miller Davis, a carpenter in the employ of the Great Northern, who had $600 on his person. As soon as Davis saw the situation, he jumped from the car and ran. One of the robbers started in pursuit, firing two shots at Davis, who stopped and drew his knife. When the robber came up, Davis grappled with him and attempted to plunge the knife into him, when the robber fired again, the bullet passing through Davis' hand, striking him in the breast but failing to penetrate the skin. After firing the shot, the robber turned and walked back toward the car. Davis made his way to the Ross Park electric line, where he took a car and came into town. He does not know what became of the motorman. The police have gone to the scene of the hold-up.
“One of the robbers started in pursuit, firing two shots at Davis, who stopped and drew his knife.”
Streetcar hold-ups were a distinct form of turn-of-the-century transit crime, reflecting the vulnerability of isolated electric lines that extended into semi-rural fringes. Today, the Arlington Heights and Ross Park areas are integrated into Spokane's urban fabric, making the idea of an isolated, midnight armed robbery on a streetcar feel like a vanished relic of the frontier era.
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