The Great Silver Heist: Burglars Strike Judge’s Home on Capitol Hill
Thieves bypassed a vigilant household to steal $500 worth of silverware from the residence of Judge J.A. Stratman, marking one of the most daring crimes in Seattle this month.
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.
BURGLARS MAKE A $500 SILVERWARE HAUL IN SEATTLE
One of the most daring burglaries which has been committed in Seattle in months took place last night somewhere between the hours of 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. The residence occupied by Judge J.A. Stratman and family, and Mrs. H.C. Henry and family, on Capitol Hill avenue, near Madison street, was entered and robbed of brass valued at $500.
The burglars gained an entrance through the kitchen window. They then broke open a door leading from the kitchen into the dining room. Two large drawers in the sideboard containing the silverware were carried out into the back yard and emptied of their contents.
No one within the house heard the thieves at work. Mrs. Henry told a Star reporter this afternoon that the matter had been reported to the police, and that a vigorous search was being made for the silverware and also for the persons who stole it. The silver was the property of both families.
This 1905 burglary highlights the persistent tension between Seattle's rapid residential expansion and its law enforcement capabilities. As Capitol Hill transformed from a semi-rural enclave into a dense urban neighborhood, high-value homes became targets for organized theft, mirroring modern concerns about property crime in rapidly gentrifying areas.
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