The Great Poker Heist: A Man Steals Glass to Escape His Debts
In a bizarre twist of justice in 1872 Seattle, a gambler fleeing a poker loss was caught stealing window panes from a saloon instead of cash.
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.
Friday. John McLaughlin, convicted of an indecent assault upon a woman, was sentenced to thirty days imprisonment, and to pay the costs of conviction.
AN EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE—One day during the past week a man was seen to suddenly emerge from a saloon on Commercial street, taking several panes of glass in his exit, and run at the top of his speed up the street. He was quickly followed by several others who made chase to the outskirts of the town, round the Duwamish Bay. A warrant was procured from Justice Bartlett, and the country scoured as fair south and east as Black River, but we understand that the fugitive has not been reclaimed.
We learn that the hero of the escapade had been 'roped in' to Mr. Garfield's favorite pastime—a friendly game of poker—with some professional gentlemen, and when he lost his last dollar, he outflanked them with the revenue officer's game—seized the pile, amounting to several hundred dollars, and sloped, to the great chagrin of our respectable citizens who defend gambling and prostitution upon the ground that they bring business and revenue to the town.
This 1872 account of a desperate gambler fleeing debt by stealing glass instead of cash highlights the chaotic, lawless nature of early Seattle's frontier justice. It mirrors modern struggles with gambling addiction and the lengths individuals go to when cornered by financial ruin, while also poking fun at the city's long-standing tolerance for vice as an economic driver.
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