Daylight Raid on Anacortes
A trio of thieves plundered a waterfront home and fled into the maze of islands, sparking a dramatic boat chase.
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.
Anacortes, June 12.—Burglars entered a house near the waterfront in broad daylight and carried away bedding, provisions, and various utensils. The stolen articles were placed in a small boat and probably carried to one of the numerous hiding places among the islands. There were three men in the party, but being pursued by officers, two of them were compelled to pull out and leave their confederate ashore, to make his escape as best he could. During the night following, he stole a canoe and managed to escape. They are supposed to be part of a well-organized gang of thieves operating in the lower Sound section.
“The stolen articles were placed in a small boat and probably carried to one of the numerous hiding places among the islands.”
While Anacortes is now a tranquil tourist hub, the 19th-century San Juan Islands were frequently a haven for bandits who utilized the complex geography of the archipelago to evade law enforcement. Today, concerns in the region focus more on the housing and ecological impacts of the tourism that replaced these isolated, lawless days.
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