The Trial of the Jar Thieves
Three men face time in the penitentiary after confessing to a clumsy burglary at a local store.
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.
Thomas Wallace, C. McClelland, and John King were accused of the theft of a jar of money from the store of Hyams, Panson & Co. The three were arrested and brought before the justice court. Wallace and McClelland pleaded guilty to the burglary charges, and each seemed to accept that they were headed to the penitentiary. During their examination, the men were sat in a row in the courtroom. Wallace, who had been sentenced to the penitentiary for four years for burglary, seemed resigned. King, the third man, was called to testify for the state. He was a young man with a hard-earned face, who initially declined to answer questions, but reluctantly implicated Wallace and McClelland. The trio had managed to make off with about twenty-four dollars from the jar, which they split among themselves.
“The courtroom was crowded, and all the spectators were silent as the men were lead in to face the justice.”
Petty theft cases like this one from 1892 reflect the same focus on street-level crime that dominates Seattle municipal court dockets today. The legal system of the 1890s, however, was significantly more brutal, with 'hard-earned' faces and long prison terms used as a blunt instrument against marginalized young men.
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